


We Used to Just Be Scams

by ooBerry



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Erwin is the leader, Hanji is a psychic expert, Historia has telekinesis, Jean can communicate with animals, Minor Character Death, Multi, Paranormal Investigators, Psychics, Reincarnation, Spirits, a lot of them have psychic abilities, all Titan shifters are mediums, ghost - Freeform, ghost busters, i dont know that character may be your whole world, if only, sorry - Freeform, super special reincarnation reveals whoa, they will watch that at one point though, those are just a few examples, yay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-22
Updated: 2015-08-18
Packaged: 2018-03-08 14:20:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 32
Words: 67,968
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3212333
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ooBerry/pseuds/ooBerry
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Erwin, Levi and Hanji are the owners of the Shiganshina Parapsychology Troup (SPT)- they take on many paranormal related projects/investigations with their group but little do the clients know, they're just fakes.<br/>Several of them do have talents...but putting on a show tends to result in more money than telling people they're actually just seeing things.<br/>It's gotten them pretty far and they'd gotten a lot of respect (God knows why), but recently they'd been gaining interest from new people that wanted to join.<br/>So Erwin decides to have an interview day.<br/>Levi isn't quite sure what to think of all the new recruits but he's certain they aren't prepared to suddenly have such raw talent in their crew.<br/>He is also certain that his new assistant is far too distracting.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Interviews

**Author's Note:**

> my new work ahh!  
> don't expect chapters this big all the time uvu this was just to get the introductions out there  
> most chapters will be 1,000-2,000 words  
> i'll try to update every other day, but shit happens yknow?  
> once a week is a guaranteed update rate though- and thats only if im literally drowning in homework in which case pls help.  
> i had trouble deciding which prompt to do first (so yes, there is another longer fanfic coming after this) but in the end, eren talking to dead friends won out (whoops spoiler alert)  
> i dont know what else to say at the moment so enjoy! !

Hanji slid down the counter and came to a halt right next to the coffee pot.

“You do realize we have several youngsters coming in today for the interviews.”

They casually picked up the pot then proceeded to attempt to pour the remainder of the coffee into my mug. “You’ll be needing more of this.”

“Do you actually think they’ll follow through though? I’m not worried about it.”

They grinned, “Oh you should be. Erwin’s greatly interested in every single one.”

I frowned and sipped my drink, “Do you really think he’d take them all? There’s like 7 of them coming.”

They shrugged passively and hopped off of the counter, “Can’t be sure. That’s why we’re interviewing them you know.”

I lightly kicked their leg and set my cup down in the sink, “I know that- but…seven people?? Do we even have seven people now??”

They frowned as they shrugged their jacket on, then tossed mine at me, “Well there’s us three, Petra, Oluo, Gunter, Erd, Mike and my precious Moblit.”

I rolled my eyes and followed them outside, “Okay so two more than seven; big whoop. We’d be almost doubling our numbers in one day. Where even is Erwin?”

“Everyone’s already there.”

Once we got into the car and I turned to them suspiciously, “What.”

They sighed and started the car, “Not everyone’s like you, Levi. Some people are actually _excited_ by the idea of betting some fresh talent.”

“Seriously. We’re a scam group. Why would they be excited by the thought of working for a fake paranormal team?”

Hanji puckered their lips and turned to look behind us as they backed the car out of the parking space, “They don’t know that yet silly.”

“Tch. They would have if they were actually psychics…”

They turned to me with a wondrous look in their eyes that vaguely resembled admiration, “That was actually a good one Ravioli. If only they were here to be offended.” They turned back to look at the road ahead of us and frowned, “What a pity.”

I chuckled and shook my head, “Shut up.”

When we arrived at our office I found Hanji had been right- everyone else was excited about the possibility of new recruits. They were all standing about, chattering excitedly and preparing for people. It made me want to gag.

“Levi! There you are!”

Erwin came waltzing in with a refreshingly NOT excited face. He seemed completely unbothered by the merriness around him. But he also didn’t seem to be dreading it.

“We’ve got the two girls coming in just a few minutes,” he warned.

“Right. So what are we doing.”

He raised an eyebrow but didn’t question me, “I’ll take care of the talking. You just stand there and be yourself. If I need any input I’ll tell you.”

I nodded and turned to Hanji who slung an arm over my shoulder, “Basically just be your usual charming self, little dude.”

I narrowed my eyes and prepared to hit them but then Petra came jogging over and interrupted me.

“Hey! Do we know which ones are coming first?”

I would have been mad at her had she not possessed the world’s cutest smile.

Erwin pulled out some papers from a file tucked under his arm (that seemed to always be there) and showed them to her, “Yes, the two girls. The supposed medium and girl with telekinesis.”

I stood on my toes and tried to peek at the papers even though I had seen it plenty of times before, “Out of curiosity, did any of these kids claim to have ESP?”

He frowned down at me and tilted his head, “No. Why?”

I leaned back and shrugged, “Just wondering if any of them would already know we’re just scams.”

Instead of looking hurt, like a normal person would have been, he grinned mischievously, “Well, some of the others may be able to tell once they meet us. We’ll just have to wait and see.”

Erwin was the owner of our little company with Hanji and myself right below him. Mike was Erwin’s assistant, Moblit was Hanji’s  and, in a sense, the rest were monkeys.

See we made our livings off of making people believe we’re a paranormal investigation group. A few of us actually had talents- like Petra. She was an empath. She usually used that to decide what to do after determining what our client was feeling, so she was very efficient in tricking people. Or myself, I had methods of making spirits or demons disappear should they actually be present.

Nobody was sure about Erwin. Not even me or Hanji. If Mike knew, he never told us.

I was 75% sure Erwin was just able to do everything possible. 25% sure he was just a really good con-artist.

Hanji specialized in knowledge about psychics so they were able to train us to be more believable as well as be extremely wordy about science stuff to confuse people.

We had done really good for ourselves. We were a well-known organization that had managed to gain a lot of respect. For reasons I do not understand.

I guess that’s why I stayed with the Shiganshina Parapsychology Troupe.

It was just really really _really_ funny.

There was a ringing sound from the front room and we all froze.

It would seem we were about to begin.

\--

“I’m Ymir, she’s Historia. Her stage name is Christa.”

The lanky freckled girl points to herself, “Medium,” then points to the blonde, “Telekinesis.”

 _That was hella informal_ , I thought to myself.

Erwin quirked an eyebrow and most likely thought the same thing, but said nothing about it. “What made you want to apply to work for SPT”

“She wanted to do more than impress people with little tricks and I wanted to actually do something with my talents.”

Erwin leaned forward and looked directly at Ymir, “Based on what you know about us, what makes you think you would be beneficial to our business? Telekinesis isn’t something you see in a ghost investigation.”

This time the blonde spoke up, “We’re aware you do more than simply investigate haunted places.  We’ve heard of the occasional psychic readings you do as well as the studies you’ve done.”

Erwin nodded and sat back in his seat, “Would you care to show us your talent Ms. Reiss?”

She kept her stare on him as a pen on his desk began to spin.

Erwin’s face remained passive as he watched the pen dance, which I assumed was a ploy to make her think she needed to do more.

I, however, was already sold on the blonde. I liked the fact that she didn’t ask any questions and got straight to it. I also liked that she moved something she wasn’t even looking at.

The other one had yet to prove herself though. Then again, I don’t know how she would.

Suddenly I felt someone playing with my hair. I froze and realized nobody was standing by me.

Tall-tan-and-freckled snickered  along with Erwin who was staring at me with amusement in his eyes and the blonde smiled gently at me. That little brat was messing with my hair. I was kind of surprised she even noticed me there, I was leaning against the back wall, and besides the small introduction Erwin gave me, I hadn’t said anything. I kind of blended in in with the shadows in a way.

I rolled my eyes and shifted my weight onto my left leg as I crossed my right one over it, “Alright we get it.”

She giggled and immediately released my luscious locks from her power. As annoying as she had proved to be, I liked her. I’d be okay with her in the group.

There was a thunk behind me just barely loud enough for me to hear. I sighed and began to leave the room.

“Levi, that’s really no reason to leave,” Erwin teasingly scolded.

I shot a glare at him and opened the door, “Shut up eyebrows. I just heard a crash so I’m going to make sure nobody’s dead.”

He stood up, instantly making me look even shorter, and followed, “I’ll come with. Just stay right here, we’ll be back in a brief moment.”

As the door closed behind us I heard a faint whistle and a quiet, “Damn if I was straight I’d tap that.”

Erwin patted my back and grinned, “See, they already like you.”

I ignored him and turned my attention to the group of people in front of us. “What are you idiots doing?”

“Definitely not eavesdropping,” Hanji announced proudly.

I stared at them blankly then turned to Erwin. He nodded and stared at the group passively. He didn’t really seem to care at all.

“We’re sorry,” Petra piped up, “I just noticed that you two felt really good about those two so we got a little excited.”

Ahh. So that was it. I could just see it. They were probably all standing by the door pushing Petra as close to it as possible so she could get a good reading on us, while the smallest of the rest pressed their ears to the door to listen to the interview.

I wordlessly left them and returned to the other room with Erwin trailing on my heels.

Sometimes he was like an oversized puppy.

The two interviewees were patiently waiting in the same places we had left them in. Good to know they hadn’t robbed the place.

Erwin took his place in his throne again and cleared his throat, “Well ladies, I honestly think I’ve asked all I really need-”

“So we’re hired.”

He raised his eyebrows, “And why do you think that?”

“I think you liked Historia’s little stunt on your midget.”

“Let’s not forget your dazzling personality and so far nonexistent talent,” I shot back.

She smirked and tilted her head, “So we _are_ hired?”

I narrowed my eyes and let Erwin answer that one.  She was too snarky for her own good, if she was going to get hired I was definitely going to give her hell.

“We’ll see you here Monday morning at eight o’clock.”

They both nodded and stood up then thanked us for our time. Historia was polite enough to shake Erwin’s hand and wave at me, but the tall one just waited at the door.

“Oh, we’re gay. Hope that isn’t a problem,” Ymir inserted as Historia began towards the door.

Erwin winked and sat back in his seat, “Oh don’t worry I am too.”

Historia’s eyes widened in surprise but Ymir just laughed. I turned to Erwin with fake shock on my face and gasped, “You’re gay?!”

He jerked a thumb in my direction and nodded solemnly, “This one’s gayer. A little more gay than is probably safe, to be honest.”

I stepped forward and kicked his chair as the girls finally took their leave.

Once they were gone Erwin spun his chair around to face me. “So what did you think?”

I rolled my eyes and moved to sit on his desk, “Well considering you already hired them, does it really matter? I kind of thought we’d interview them, then get back to them later.”

He nodded understandingly, “That was my original plan, but one; this isn’t really that formal, and two; Ymir kind of had us caught.”

I narrowed my eyes and looked down to his folder to see which people were coming next, “Which reminds me- why did you hire that one? You hardly asked any questions and she certainly didn’t get the chance to prove she had such abilities she claimed to possess.”

He smiled with that mysterious look in his eyes and gave a lame-ass explanation, “Trust me Levi.”

Again, I had no idea what kind of abilities he had. It was those kind of moments that made me sure he was able to do many things because he was usually doing the right thing.

There was a knock at the door that caused us both to frown. Erwin called out for them to enter and two strangers emerged.

A boy with freckles mapped across his face poked his head in, “Is it alright if we come in?”

I kept my seat on Erwin’s desk and raised an eyebrow at him, “Didn’t we just _say_ to come in?”

He hurriedly nodded and rushed into the room while a tall boy with two-toned hair carelessly followed.

I didn’t like them. One lanky chick with a bunch of freckles had already come in; I didn’t need to see a freckled dude and a lanky dude right after that.

Erwin gave me a warning look then gestured for the boys to take a seat, “Did Petra direct you in here?”

Freckles shook his head and looked away awkwardly, “I’m not sure.  A tall brunette with a short blonde sent us in here, they didn’t tell us their names.”

Now that I laughed at.

Whatever chances I had at intimidating Freckles No.2 became scarce at that moment. He looked at me quizzically with a gentle smile and didn’t question my laughter.

Erwin sighed and looked up to the ceiling, but in an amused manner.  A manner that sort of said ‘oh lordy lord what have I done’.

I will admit though, that sort of got Freckles No.1 a point from me.

I slid off Erwin’s desk and returned to my shadows as Erwin began the interview, “Well alright, never mind that. Would you both introduce yourselves?”

Kind Freckles (my new name for him. He would be Kind Freckles and Ymir would be Snarky freckles) cleared his throat and smiled warmly. Euch. What a disgustingly bright person. “My name is Marco Bodt. While I really have no special talent to put forth for the SPT I’d like to offer whatever I can as well as my filming skills that could possibly help.”

“Ah yes, your resume says you’ve been trained in film?”

“Yes, I took a yearlong hands-on film course and have filmed several live events in the past.”

Erwin nodded and turned to the other one expectantly.

Now there was another reason I didn’t like that one. He had a long horse face and was obviously a hipster. His beanie, large glasses and Starbucks drink in his hand immediately set me off.

Kind Freckles could stay since he would be helpful with cameras but Horse-face could go ahead and leave.

“Jean Kirschtein. I’m HSP and can communicate with animals.” What, not plants too?

Erwin frowned, “Care to expand that? How does this communication happen?”

Jean matched Erwin’s expression, “Well it’s mainly a mental thing. I suppose verbally is possible too but the message would be getting across from my mind not from my words. I guess you could say it’s sort of like sending images to them?”

“I’d like to see this happen if it’s possible,” I requested.

They both seemed to freeze, and for a moment I was slightly concerned they were going to pretend they didn’t hear me.

Erwin glanced at me thoughtfully then looked back to Jean, “Is that doable?”

The kid nodded then wordlessly left the room, but the way he did it made me angry. He did it so casually as if he wasn’t on a job interview, and, true, I didn’t care much for these kids but I did _not_ like cocky people. And Mr.Kirschtein certainly seemed cocky.

Kind Freckles tried to fill the silence, “He’s probably just going to get a bird or something, don’t worry.”

Erwin and I nodded then went back to quietly waiting for the hipster to return.  Surely it wouldn’t take him long if he was good at it.

A few minutes later the kid came back with two cats trailing after him.

I was a bit disappointed it took him so long but then I realized I _knew_ those cats.

Erwin stared blankly at the cats that jumped onto his desk, “Is that….Sawney and Bean?”

I frowned and leaned over to inspect the cat that hadn’t already leapt into Erwin’s arms for cuddling, “I think so? Hanji should really put collars on those damn things.”

We each took a cat and stared at each other intensely.

Sawney and Bean had gone missing a few days ago. Hanji had been absolutely distraught. I had a feeling the only reason they were functional that day was because the interviews distracted them.

The door burst open and a psychotic brunette came clambering in and managed to shove me on Erwin then fell on both of us in an attempt to grab the cats while we desperately tried to protect the cats from them.

“MY BABIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

“Hanji you’re going to crush ‘your babies’”

“Get off of me four-eyes.”

Instead of getting up like instructed, they merely leaned on me and pointed at the horse.

“YOU. YOU ARE HIRED.”

“Hanji-”

“HE’LL BE WORKING IN MY DEPARTMENT.”

“I’ll see you both here Monday morning at eight o’clock,” Erwin sighed.

They both nodded in confusion then awkwardly left as I pushed a crazy person off my back. I shoved the cat into their arms (but carefully because cats are precious and I was actually kind of fond of Sawney and Bean) and glared at them, “Take your cats and leave us alone Hanji.”

They sniffed and took both cats into their arms with ease, “I don’t see why I can’t be here, I am at the same position as you Levi.”

“I’m not an idiot,” I defended.

“That is debatable,” they shot back.

“I’m also the one that needs an assistant still.”

“Levi’s right, but Hanji also has a point. Why don’t you stay for this last group. They claim to have a little genius so you can judge that.”

I glared at Erwin but reluctantly leaned against the wall besides Hanji. Thankfully, instead of being annoying, they handed me a cat and we were able to sit there petting cats while we waited to the other kids to arrive.

Sawney and Bean were nice cats. As much as I hated to say it, I was really thankful to Jean. Hanji, Erwin and I lived together, so the cats really belonged to the three of us rather than just Hanji- though they had been the ones to bring them home.

After maybe half an hour I went to sit on Erwin’s desk again. He put down his phone and slid the folder to me, knowing perfectly well what I was looking for.

These kids had been late, so they had better have been worth the wait or I was going to fling a cat at their faces.

As I actually opened the file though, the door opened and three teens came in followed by Petra.

“I’m sorry. They arrived a bit early but I got so caught up talking to them I kept them back, sorryyyyyy,” Petra explained.

I narrowed my eyes at her but kept my quiet. She was lying. Probably to keep the kids from getting in trouble, but lying nonetheless. I also didn’t want to say anything because if they were worth horribly lying for, she must have noticed something about them.

Erwin nodded then gestured for the kids to sit and Petra took her leave. There were only two seats so one of them sacrificed a chair for her friend.

For some reason she was vaguely familiar but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. She had jet-black hair perfectly framing a small pale face. She had a red scarf on that she tugged up seemingly in a shy manner, but the hard coolness in her eyes told me she was anything but shy. After one glance at the chairs, she wordlessly nodded for another one to sit there and opted to stand behind them instead.

They boy she gave her chair to was quite the sight. He had messy brown hair that I could tell was untamable. He had nicely tanned skin, and might I add, an obviously toned body under his simple t-shirt and skinny jeans. He smiled at the girl as if thanking her for the seat and I frowned. I definitely didn’t want him hired.

Remember how I said Petra had the world’s cutest smile?

She had just gotten shown up.

His smile was breathtaking. I didn’t need some bright eyed, gorgeous brat distracting me from my scamming job. And certainly not someone so chipper.

Did I talk about his eyes yet? He was staring at the cat in my arms with a confused expression which gave me a nice view of his eyes. I didn’t like them. They were too pretty and distracting.

One was a blue-ish green (though more green than blue), like an emerad, and the other was a yellowish hazel. Like copper. Damn I was going to spend hours staring at that kid I needed to get a grip on my life oh my God Levi focus on the cat focus on the cat.

Wait no don’t the kid’s focusing on the cat focus on the other kid.

The other kid was smaller than the other two and sort of looked a little out of place compared to them. He looked like a nerd. He was probably the genius Erwin mentioned.

He had a weird blond hair cut that reminded me of He-Man and a light blue sweater that almost swallowed him whole. He had bright blue eyes that matched his sweater, but the most eye-catching trait was his eyebrows.

Yes. Those were up-and-coming _Erwin_ eyebrows.

“Allow me to introduce us,” Oh great someone finally had the brains to introduce themselves before being prompted to. Wait no the pretty brat was talking avert eyes avert eyes. “This is Armin Arlert, he specializes in knowledge pertaining spirits and demons. Both knowledge documented by parapsychologist and folklores."

I noticed Hanji perk up at that comment and share a smile with the blond.

“And this is my sister, Mikasa Ackerman, she specializes in summoning spirits. She is capable of getting rid of them too, but just not quite in a peaceful manner.”

“‘Ackerman’?” Erwin asked.

Hanji elbowed me and raised an eyebrow questioningly.

Ah. Mikasa. I remembered.

“I didn’t realize it was you until now for some reason,” I shook my head. The pretty boy looked at me curiously so I kept shaking my head in an attempt to avoid eye contact.

“I didn’t know you worked here,” Mikasa replied.

“She’s a distant cousin. I don’t even know who is related to who to make her that, I just know we’re related,” I assured Erwin.

He frowned then turned back to the brats, “Well alright then.”

Honestly, how had I not noticed that before oh the pretty boy was about to speak hush up Levi.

“And I’m Eren Jaeger.”

I don’t know why, but for some unforsaken reason I decided to look at him. And for some unforsaken reason he decided to look at me.

Eye contact was unavoidable and I realized I had many days of embarrassing myself over this boy ahead of me.


	2. The Shiganshina Squad's Interview

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The rest of the the trio's interview!  
> Levi is distracted by the pretty boy and the pretty boy is distracted by the cat in Levi's arms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i feel like there's stuff i keep thinking to say but when i come around to actually writing these notes i can't remember anything.  
> anyhoodle enjoy!

“I have no particular special talents, but I am very passionate about the paranormal.”

Somehow that didn’t sit well in my stomach. I wasn’t sure why.

Erwin nodded and rested his chin on the palms of his hands, “So what got you three interested in applying for a job here?”

Again, the pretty boy- ugh use his real name Levi, EREN spoke for the trio, “To put it simply, we’re just really fascinated by the subject.”

“Though it sounds like you’re more focused on the spiritual side of parapsychology?” Erwin clarified.

“Yes. While we are interested in the whole topic, since we each have many dead relatives, we admittedly get slightly distracted by the idea of contacting the departed.”

That was…painfully honest okay then. I wondered who had died…

“Understandable,” Erwin turned his chair to face me and Hanji, “Hanji, Levi; do you two have anything you’d like to ask?”

Hanji nodded eagerly and stepped forward, “Mr.Arlert, how long have you been involved in such studies?”

Armin gave them a charming smile (that I kid you not looked like Erwin’s smile slightly cuter this kid was tiny Erwin), “Probably….about ten years now?”

Hanji grinned, obviously pleased with how much info the kid must have accumulated over the years, “Impressive. Have you ever studied under anybody with a degree in the area…?”

His smiled became a little bit sheepish, “Aha…well, yeah, that’s an interesting story…”

Before we were able to look at each other suspiciously, Eren spoke up for Armin, “We found an online course under the University of Edinburgh for Parapsychology, but under the circumstances of being in college and having nobody to financially rely on other than each other, we could barely afford it. We ended up technically registering as one person, but each studying the material and taking the class together.”

Huh. Interesting. I highly doubted that was allowed but it was kind of cool they worked around it that way.

Hanji furrowed their eyebrows and nodded, “Mhmm…one last question from me, or more of a request.”

Erwin and I turned to them suspiciously and watched as they walked around the room to pull a weird cubed object out of a drawer on Erwin’s right.

They handed it to Armin, “Solve this puzzle.”

Oh it was that spatial puzzle. There were several oddly shaped blocks within the cube that you had to rearrange in a way that it would once again fit in the cube shape. It was averagely difficult. Erwin, Hanji and I were able to finish it in a few minutes when we first got it, Mike had second best time, and then the rest of the group either couldn’t solve it or took forever trying to.

 Arlert calmly took the cube without question and spread the pieces across his lap. He hesitatingly placed a few pieces together for a minute, then he suddenly took it all apart and put it all together perfectly in one try.

Hanji nodded approvingly and took the cube back happily.

Well good for you Hanji. You had scored yet another person to work in your department congrats.

Hanji put the cube away then snuck in front of the desk and leaned on it in front of Eren, “And Eren?”

His eyes widened slightly in confusion, “Yes?”

Hanji put Sawney on the desk, allowing it to scurry away to the safety of Erwin, and leaned in awkwardly close to Eren’s face, “Are those real?”

He seemed a little scared as Hanji got closer and actually grabbed his face, but he said nothing about it, “My eyes?”

Hanji moved in even closer (geez back off, it was awkward even from my point of view) so it almost looked like they would kiss, “Yeah those.”

He laughed a little and I noticed Mikasa tense up behind him. She kind of looked like she was ready to jump Hanji.

“Yeah, they’re real.”

“Hmmmmm heterochromia huh?” Hanji then slowly adjusted him and crawled onto his lap, then wrapped their arms around his neck and turned to me and Erwin.

It was a very awkward affair, yet Eren didn’t seem too bothered by it- which I found very interesting. Armin smiled like he found it funny and Mikasa’s glare only became worse. Eren just kind of accepted it and laughed again.

“I’ll be taking this one for team Hanji too, sorry boys.”

“Hanji you can’t just decide that by yourself,” Erwin warned. I wondered if he was at all edgy about the fact Hanji seemed to be hiring people a little too easily. I certainly was.

“But he’s pretty,” they pouted.

That made Eren laugh even more. Somehow he was warming up to their eccentricity rather than being scared away.

“Levi’s pretty too,” Erwin pointed out.

“Levi refused to be on team Hanji,” they shot back.

I rolled my eyes, “Correction; I refused to be on team Idiot.”

That got a good reaction out of all three of them. They each laughed, even Mikasa, and Hanji just sulked then moved away from Eren having accepted their defeat.

Erwin turned to me, “Levi? Did you have any questions?”

I considered it for a second then decided against it. I shook my head.

He shrugged then turned to the trio, “Do you have any questions for us?”

“Why do you have cats?” Eren blurted out. He covered his mouth as if he hadn’t meant to ask it so readily but still watched us expectantly.

Hanji took Bean from me and pet it lovingly, “Ahh long story short, the last couple of people brought them in.”

“You mean we could have bribed you?” he asked sadly. There was no doubt in my mind that he was thinking about what he would have bribed us with.

Before Erwin or Hanji could laugh at him and say no, I leaned forward and said yes.

There was a knock at the door and a certain giant poked his head in, “Excuse me, may I speak to all three of you for just a moment?”

Erwin frowned and stood up reluctantly, “What is it Mike?”

Instead of answering Mike retreated.

“Just stay here, we’ll be right back.”

We left the room and followed Mike’s path to the main office room. Everyone was sitting about waiting and looked up happily when we arrived.

“What is it?”

“We thought you could use an excuse to leave the room and discuss how it’s going,” Mike answered.

Ahh. That’s actually pretty smart, good going Mike. See that’s why I wanted an assistant.

Erwin nodded and leaned against the doorframe, “Thanks. Well I think it’s going nicely. I like them.”

“There’s a mini-Erwin sitting in there,” I muttered.

Hanji cackled and slapped my back, “Yesss that’s why I thought he looked familiar!”

Petra looked up from her computer, “Does he have the eyebrows?”

Erwin scoffed as I nodded, “Oh yes. They’re not exactly the same, more like premature Erwin eyebrows, but you can definitely see it.”

“Isn’t your cousin in there right now?” Gunter wondered.

I narrowed my eyes at him, “Why didn’t you warn me that my cousin was coming?”

He looked at me with confusion and tilted his head, “Uhmmmm I thought you would have known? You oversaw all of the applications?”

“You’re dumb Raviolli,” Hanji stated bluntly.

I ignored the comment. “True, but I didn’t realize it was her, I wasn’t paying attention.”

“Does she look like you?” Petra poked.

Hanji nodded excitedly, “Yes she does! It also sounds like she has almost the same talent.”

“So we find my double, but not an assistant,” I concluded.

Erwin stroked his chin thoughtfully like the old man he is, “You could take Eren.”

I instantly rebuked the idea, “What? No.”

They all turned to me slowly and stared. How creepy.

Petra leaned forward, “Which one is Eren?”

“The pretty one,” Hanji answered. Then the jumped a little as they got an idea, “That’s why! Is he too pretty for you Levi?”

I crossed my arms defensively, “Shut up shitty glasses.”

“You’re blushing!”

I left the room, wordlessly declaring the meeting over, and walked towards the other office.

Through the laughter coming from behind me I heard hushed voices from somewhere else…

I put my ear to the door and shamelessly eavesdropped on the three kids.

“The blonde one strikes me as…I don’t know, he has the same feeling as a con artist or something? Someone who’s really deceitful and manipulative, but at the same, undeniably trustworthy.”

Erwin and Hanji came up behind me and gave me questioning looks. I pressed a finger to my lips and pointed at the door. They got the message and leaned in next to me.

“That’s interesting… do you think that says something about the whole group? He’s in charge.”

“Well what about the other two?”

“The brunette- and I can’t tell if they’re male or female- they’re trustworthy. They’re really, uh eccentric, as you saw, and energetic, but it’s almost like they’re hiding a second personality.”

I recognized Eren’s voice. He was analyzing us? It almost sounded like he was doing readings on us, but he said he had no special ability…

“Another personality?”

“Yeah, like I’m scared of them almost. There’s something dark about them…”

I glanced at Hanji and found them listening with a blank expression. He described them dead on.

“And my cousin?”

“Don’t you already know him Mikasa.”

“I only saw him like once when I was a kid before I went to live with Eren. I don’t really know him.”

I tensed a little and listened anxiously. I really hoped she didn’t hate me, for some reason the fact she was family made me nervous.

“He’s…he’s also trustworthy. He seems a lot nicer than he looks…a lot less intimidating, you know? Ahh I’m not sure with him, he was avoiding me so it was hard to tell.”

“Maybe he could tell you’re a dog person.”

“I like cats!”

Erwin chose then to suddenly open the door without warning myself or Hanji.

“Sorry about that! Just a little business issue we needed to tend to,” Erwin lied. Well, no, thinking about it, that was actually the truth.

We entered the room seemingly bored, but I’m sure the three of us were theorizing furiously.

Obviously the kid had lied about not having any talents- he had been sitting there reading us the whole time and he was pretty good at it.

I decided not to avoid him this time though. Not that I was purposefully staring at him or anything, I just wasn’t focused on hiding.

Instead of sitting down again Erwin leaned on his desk and nodded at them, “Well, I think we’ve asked all the questions we really need.”

The three kids looked at one another nervously and waited for Erwin to go on. “If you’ll accept the jobs, we’ll be wanting to see you here at eight o’clock Monday morning.”

Eren narrowed his eyes, “What positions would we be getting?”

“Mr. Arlert, you’re being offered a position under Hanji as a researcher. Ms. Ackerman, you’re being offered a position as an investigator and Mr. Jaeger we’re offering you the position of Levi’s assistant.”

Eren looked up at me and frowned when he realized I was looking back at him.

“Are there any objections?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The University of Edinburgh really does have an online parapsychology class  
> just saying.  
> also, the next couple of chapter are gonna be really fun  
> just everyone having a good time before dead people roll in, y'know?


	3. The First Morning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Levi gets ready for the first day with all the newbies and Eren meets everyone in the gang.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> starts off in levi's POV and switches to Eren's just FYI

“Hanji where the fuck are the extra blankets?” I called from our coat closet.

Bean, who had followed me on my quest, meowed up at me as if to say ‘why the fuck do you need them’.

I scowled at the cat and turned to my psychotic friend that had just arrived on the scene.

“Why the fuck do you need them Ravioli?”

Psychic. I was practically psychic, maybe I should have been on team Hanji after all.

“Does it matter? Where are they?”

“Washed ‘em the other day. Now, why do you need them?”

I made my way to the laundry room with both Hanji and Bean in tow, “Bringing them to the office today.”

“Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy?"

I grumbled as I pulled the blankets out of the dryer (where I assumed they had been abandoned), “To put in my office.”

“Whhyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy?”

“Because I thought it’d be nice if there was a blanket ready for the kid if he needed one.” There. I said it out loud.

“Wow what a nerd, get a load of this guy Bean,” Hanji laughed. “What else are you hiding away in your office just to be considerate? Lube? Condoms?”

“Hand sanitizer and windex,” I replied dryly.

“Oooooh kinky~”

“What’s kinky?” Erwin emerged from his room shrugging his nerdy vest on at the most inconvenient of times.

“Everything Levi does,” Hanji fanned themselves and pressed their back to the wall, “I’m so aroused now.”

Erwin snorted and grabbed his pre-made coffee, “Understandable. Why are you getting those blankets?”

I huffed and left the room. Though, not before hearing Hanji answer, “He’s gonna make a looove nest for his little assistant.”

I dumped the pile on my bed and selected a couple to fold.

Don’t think me weird, I was genuinely doing it just in case a blanket would be needed. In my office I had a futon with a few pillows so I could see the kid taking a nap there and looking lost without a blanket.

Kids always took naps right? It only seemed logical.

Though true, he wasn’t a kid. He was twenty-one.

Well if he didn’t want any blankets I’d take them for myself. The office could get cold sometimes and I certainly wasn’t bothered by blankets.

Maybe the blankets were weird. Maybe I really didn’t need to bring them. I mean when you go to your office you don’t expect blankets to be there waiting.

Though true, he was just an assistant so he didn’t know what to expect in my office and he’d probably never had such a strangely informal job.

Or maybe he did, I really couldn’t judge what he may have done.

No actually, I’d seen his resume; I would know what he had done.

I groaned and fell onto my bed in a dramatic flourish, signifying that I was done with the world.

\--

 We were late for the first day of work, as usual.

It was like a curse, specifically on me. I was late on the first day of anything. Armin and Mikasa were fine as long as I wasn’t doing the same thing- for example school or work since we drove together.

And as usual, Armin would scold me and rant in the car as Mikasa anxiously drove 10 miles above the speed limit.

I sat in the back carefree as I tuned out Armin’s voice. He could be annoying okay. I loved the little dude, but he needed to shut up.

When we had arrived at the building, I didn’t even know. I guess I had dozed off because the next thing I knew I was being dragged away by my scarf.

I was pretty sure that could be considered assault.

I could sue Mikasa if I wanted to for that.

I mean when you’re being dragged on a concrete sidewalk by fabric that’s tied around your throat, that’s considered assault right??

Nobody cared though. Nobody cared about silly little Eren being murdered in the parking lot.

“Eren?!”

Petra, sweet, _sweet_ gentle Petra, cared. She cared about me.

She came over in a hurry and rescued me from my sister. She must have heard my gagging sounds and came to see what was happening.

Mikasa ignored me and followed Armin inside.

She was heartless sometimes. True, she cared a lot about me, but she didn’t like being late.

Petra fretted over me as she helped me inside and ignored my constant reassurances that I was fine.

She was like a mommy in a way. Last time she lied to her bosses for us when we showed up late and if that isn’t a sign to love someone then I don’t know what is.

Petra was cool I liked her.

When I finally made my fashionably late entrance, there was a loooooooot of people gathered in the room. I guess this was ‘welcome everybody chat now’ time.

Petra abandoned me to go talk to the, ah what was their name? Hanji. Petra abandoned me to go talk to Hanji so I looked around for familiar faces to cling to.

Armin was already caught up talking to Mr.Smith (who looked like a muscular version of Armin that I would toooooooootally tap like wow) and Mikasa was talking to some dual-hair-colored hipster, as well as I knew she would still be mad at me, so I kept my feet planted and decided to watch everyone.

I felt something lightly wrap around my leg and looked down prepared to step on someone’s face.

It was that cat (or its tail to be specific). The one Mr.Ackerman had been petting in the interview. I never caught its name.

I bent down to pick it up and accepted my fate as forever alone. Who needed people. Cats were cool. Cats and Petra.

When I stood back up a plastic fish suddenly appeared. It was right in my face, so naturally I swatted at it.

After realizing that it was attached to a string, I looked to my side to see who was holding it.

Mr.Ackerman stood beside me with an unamused expression, “Did you seriously just swat at a cat toy.”

“What no! I mean, technically yeah but it was in my face-”

“No excuses.”

I sighed and narrowed my eyes at him, “What’s with you guys and cats anyway? I thought you said you couldn’t be bribed with them.”

“No. Hanji and Erwin said they couldn’t. I said yes.”

“Why is this cat here?” I pressed. Getting salty with my boss first day on the job awyea.

He pointed the toy in the direction of Hanji who immediately noticed and waved at us, “Hanji wanted to make Jean talk to the cat for them.”

I frowned, “Who’s Jean? And why is Hanji making them talk to cats?”

“Oh right you’re late so you haven’t seen anyone yet,” he brought the cat toy back up to a swift blow on my head, “Go talk to people brat.”

I rubbed my head and pulled the cat closer to my chest, “Sheesh! Fine!”

I held the cat out to him, because I assumed he had been chasing after it hence the cat toy, but he just shook his head, “No keep the cat. People like cats, therefore, it should make them like you.”

“Are you suggesting they wouldn’t like me without the cat?”

“I’m not suggesting it, I’m stating it: without the cat they won’t like you.”

I laughed and put the cat back on the ground (since I knew he wouldn’t take it back and I kind of hoped he would have to chase after it), “I think I’ll like this job.”

As the cat scurried away, he sighed and stalked after it, “Don’t be so sure yet.”

Okay, I had my first assignment from my boss. All I had to do was talk to people, couldn’t screw that up right?

Mikasa had moved away from the hipster and began talking to two lesbians (don’t ask me how I knew, I just _did_ ), so I decided to talk to the dude she had just left. I just kind of assumed he was Mikasa-approved.

As I got closer though, I began to doubt it.

There was this awful asshole vibe emitting from him like he was radiating douche or something.

When I finally approached him, my jaw fell in surprise, “You look like a horse.”

He turned to me, annoyance clear as day on his face, and began to retaliate, “You look like-”.

And then he saw my face. Now he’s a believer (hahaha catch my reference there?)

“Whoa holy shit what’s wrong with your eyes?”

“What’s wrong with your face?” I shot back.

He leaned down because he was taller than I’d prefer he be, and got a little too close to my face, “Are those contacts or?”

See when Hanji did this it was okay. Hanji was cool. Jean was not cool. Jean was a hipster.

I put my hand on his face and pushed him back, “Aye shove off dude.”

He sighed, obviously ticked off at me, yet for some reason tried to be civil with me (he had probably been told to act nice today. I could tell horse-face was a hot head), “Sorry sorry, I was a little too curious.”

I rolled my eyes and shoved my hands in my pockets, “It’s alright you just caught me off guard. I should be used to that stuff by now.”

“So that’s real? It’s not contacts?” He looked genuinely curious so I decided he probably wasn’t as big of a jerk as I originally thought.

“Yeah they’re real.”

“You could slay armies with those eyes.”

I smirked and raised an eyebrow, “As I ride my noble steed.”

He whacked my head which started a battle of slapping.

Obviously he had been called a horse a lot.

And obviously he didn’t like it.

Then there were arms peeling me away from the horse.

“Oi Eren! I told you to _talk_ to people, not go fight people!!”

You fucked up Jaeger. You fucked up.

I adjusted my shirt and lifted my chin, “It’s okay, Mr. Ackerman. It’s just that-”

My new frienemy  piped up and answered my yet to be asked question, “Jean.”

“-and I were playing patty cake.”

Mr. Ackerman stared at me like I was an idiot, “With your fists?”

“Patty cake 2.0,” I replied.

Jean snickered and walked off to join some cute freckled dude which left me by my lonesome with Mr- nope. He was gone.

A large hand was placed on my shoulder as they cleared their throat, “Alright everybody, let’s quiet down for a moment.”

It was Erwin. The hot one. Alright, _one_ of the hot ones. Mr. Ackerman was also hot.

“How about we all introduce ourselves now? Just in case some of us haven’t seen everyone yet,” he tapped his finger on my shoulder and I knew he meant me. Wow. I thought I was being salty on the first day.

“Who wants to start us off?”

There was a moment of silence as we all avoided each other’s gazes until another man even bigger than Erwin stepped forward, “I’m Mike. I work as Erwin’s assistant. I’m a veteran, if you will, at least compared to our sudden influx of youngsters.”

We all nodded/smiled to acknowledge his introduction and waited for the next victim.

A slim and calm seeming brunette came up next, “I’m Moblit. I work as Hanji’s assistant and I’m also a ‘veteran’.”

Hm. The assistants huh? I guess since two of the three had volunteered I was morally obligated to go next.

“Hi, uh, I’m Eren. I’m Mr. Ackerman’s assistant. I’m new.”

Hanji busted out laughing. We all turned to them and watched as tears came into their eyes and they leaned on Moblit for support.

“I-I’m sorry, I just… ‘Mr. Ackerman’!!!”

Levi appeared to my right and said nothing on the matter.

I on the other hand was panicking on the inside. Both of my incredibly gorgeous employers were standing at my side and I was a gay child oh God breathe Eren _breathe_.

“Alright Hanji since you interrupted why don’t you go next.”

“Pssssh. I’m Hanji! I’m our main researcher/psycho around here! And I’m not just a _veteran,_ I am an _owner_ of this place.”

“I’m Erwin. I am the head of the company.”

Levi sighed and somehow I knew we were thinking the same thing; they had gone in pattern. The three assistants went, then the people they assisted were expected to go next.

“I’m Levi. I am one of the three owners, I am our head cat trainer and I am also our custodian.”

There was a long pause and then somebody whispered, “Is he serious?”

“One hundred percent.”

The rest of the introductions went along without injury.

Besides Petra and the others who had already introduced themselves, the other veterans consisted of Gunter, Erd and Oluo. Gunter, like Moblit, seemed to be a reserved man. But unlike Moblit, he was less timid. He was cool. Erd was very polite and kind yet seemed kind of goofy. Oluo was just a train wreck, to put it simply. Dude bit his tongue so hard it bled during his intro.

But each of the ‘veterans’ had something in common. They all gave me that feeling that I should be intimidated and scared of them. Hanji gave me that sense the most pronounced, but I could feel it with the others too. I wasn’t quite sure how to explain it.

And the newbies, like me. Armin and Mikasa, pretty much the lamest people you will ever know of. Jean, a lame-ass horse face hipster who I was looking forward to working with in a strange way. Marco, a very sweet pile of freckles who was good with cameras. Historia, who possessed telekinesis and even showed it off for everybody. Ymir, Historia’s girlfriend (see I told you), was a medium. She, much like Marco, had an abundance of freckles, but she was like the opposite of him. Marco was like Freckled Jesus and Ymir was Freckled Satan.

“Wow we’ve got some talented people here,” I murmured. It was the truth; an empath, a girl with telekinesis, a medium, two people that could summon/dispose of spirits and an HSP that could communicate with animals. It was a psychic hot spot.

Erwin chuckled beside me, “Yet nobody with ESP. We have quite the variety, yet not the most famous ability.”

“Do we need one?”

We all turned to Jean and looked at him curiously. “I mean, I know somebody. She’s got a partner though; they come as a package.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> as im writing this i keep thinking wow this fanfic is so much fun how is this about the paranormal and then i remember everything thats planned to happen after they get situated in their jobs and i get sad


	4. The Even Newer Kids Arrival

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eren explores his new office, they get their first case and the last two of the SPT gang arrive!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter is all Levi's POV

“Call them.”

I turned to him with an incredulous stare, “Erwin we just almost doubled our numbers in one day, you can’t seriously-”

“Well now they’ll be doubled perfectly.”

“Erwin this is ridiculous.”

“Levi shh.”

Erwin crossed the room to join Jean and peered at his phone, “Are you calling them yet?”

“You seem a bit excited sir.”

“Just call me Erwin, and yes, I’m very excited.”

“You don’t mind that there’s two of them?”

“They both have ESP?”

“No, the boy just predicts the future.”

“Even better. Are you calling them?”

Mike walked over to join them and gently pulled Erwin away from Jean, “Erwin, give him some breathing room, you’re acting like Hanji.”

That seemed to slap some sense into Erwin. He backed off immediately and shook his head as if correcting himself, “You’re right. I’m so sorry Kirschtein.”

Jean snorted, “It’s fine. But no, I’m not technically calling them right now, I’m asking if it’s okay to call first.”

Erwin nodded understandingly and turned back to the group, “Alright. Well with that I say we should split up and get everyone settled. For the next few days we’ll just be getting set up and ‘training’ our new recruits. This is probably the most intensely informal job you’ll ever have.”

He was right there.

I, by instinct, headed to my office, but then I realized a pretty boy was following me.

Right. He was to follow me around from now on.

When we reached my office I held the door open for him and allowed him a moment to inspect the room.

In the middle on the far side of the room was the aforementioned futon (with two blankets neatly folded and stacked on it). On either sides of it were two tall book shelves that extended to the corner of each wall. To the left was my desk. Nice and organized as one would expect. On the wall closest to the door was another book shelf of the same design as the other two, as well as another one in the same position on the other side of the room. Also on the other side of the room was an empty desk; Eren’s desk to be specific.

“A couch?” he questioned.

I leaned on the door frame and shrugged, “For comfort. It’s actually a futon, so it folds out. Sometimes I spend nights here.”

He turned to me with shock in his eyes, “Really?”

“Sometimes we get really troubling cases. Sometimes all the bills get dumped on me to deal with.”

He stepped into the room a little hesitantly and started towards my desk, “Speaking of cases…what exactly do you do during those?”

I frowned, suddenly incredibly unsure of what to say. Erwin hadn’t told any of these punks that we didn’t typically do authentic work. Was I allowed to tell him?

Ah to hell with that, he was _my_ assistant, I was going to say whatever I wanted. I’d tell him we we’re scams when it was necessary.

“Should there be any spirits actually present in a case, I get rid of them.”

He grimaced and ran his finger along the side of my desk, careful not to touch any of my belongings, “‘Get rid of’…? Like Mikasa?”

For some reason, his solemn expression made me a little upset, “Well I don’t really know exactly how she does it. I help them move on.”

He perked up a little bit and looked to me hopefully, “Really? Like, to heaven?”

“Or whatever else is waiting for us.”

He sighed and moved on to one of the book shelves, obviously a little more comfortable in the room, “That’s good.”

“How does Mikasa do it?” I’ll admit, his fear made me a little curious.

“She sends them back to wherever they came from. So most commonly hell. ‘Or whatever else is waiting for us’.”

How grim. “That’s…sad.” I crossed the room to join him as he leafed through a few books.

“She doesn’t know how to send them anywhere else. But on the bright side, if we run into anything seriously bad or threatening, she’s got us covered.” Ah, he was an optimist.

I watched as he read the backs of books and put them back securely in place as if I would scold him if not. He didn’t seem too irked by the fact I was literally just standing there observing him.

“Can I ask you something?”

I narrowed my eyes, “You can ask. I may not have an answer.” Questions in our realm of business tended to go unanswered.

He bit his lip nervously and stared at a book that I could tell he wasn’t even reading, “What’s Hanji’s gender? I can’t tell and I don’t want to be rude…”

I chuckled then took the book from him and put it up, “It’s fine, Hanji would actually probably be thrilled by you asking. They identify as non-binary, so they/them/their pronouns.”

He laughed in relief, “Ahah, that’s good since that’s what I’ve been doing so far then.”

Then there was an awkward silence. He seemed to be done exploring the small room and didn’t know what to do next. To be honest, neither did I. I had nothing to do for a while besides get him situated. Oh hey there we go, I could get him situated.

I turned and pointed at the desk on the right of the room, “That’s your desk. You can put whatever on there. Except for food. You can eat in here, but don’t store food in here. There’s a fridge in the main room for that so use that if you must. And clean up any mess you make, I’m a stickler about cleanliness.”

He made a determined face and nodded hurriedly. Then his eyes lit up like he remembered something and he tilted his head, “Oh yeah- did you mean it when you said you were the custodian?”

I managed a small smile and shook my head, “I was kidding. I do a lot of cleaning but normally Petra and Erwin help me out with that. Moblit usually offers to help but then Hanji does something dumb and he has to go babysit them.”

“Ahhhh ok. That duty suits him.”

Suddenly I remembered the conversation I had eavesdropped on and got suspicious. I had the chance to try to find out what that was about though, “What do you mean?”

“Well it must take a really patient and trustworthy personality to watch after Hanji. They’re a bit of a handful but Moblit seems like he can handle it while juggling his sanity.”

“You seem to know a lot about him considering you haven’t really met him.”

He blushed a little and looked away, “Ah. I just kind of had that feeling about him…I’m really good at judging what a person is like so…”

Whoop there it is. I was a bit disappointed though. It wasn’t some lie he had told us where he actually had an incredible psychic ability he was scared to tell us about for some reason. I kind of hoped that would be what it was.

I pushed my crushed theory away and nodded understandingly, “I see. That seems convenient.”

There was another moment of silence, only slightly less awkward than before. I was about to ask if he wanted to be shown around the building when four-eyes burst in with their hands over their eyes.

“PUT YOUR CLOTHES ON BOYS I’M ENTERING THE ROOM.”

I rolled my eyes and marched over to whack them, but not before noticing Eren’s wide eyes and red face. Damn pretty boy had a cute blush.

“Shut up Hanji. What is it?”

They walked over to meet me and gave me a warm, yet completely uncalled for, hug. “Erwin convinced the other kids to come over for to meet him, so they’re on their way and we also got a call.”

I frowned over their shoulder, “A call? Did he accept it? I don’t think we’re ready right now.”

They pulled away and nodded vigorously as they made their way to Eren to presumably engulf him in a hug, “Yeah he accepted. He said we just wouldn’t take the whole gang this go around if it was bad. If it’s an easy one we’ll just take everybody and consider it field-training.”

Eren greeted Hanji’s giant hug with an equally giant hug. Poor kid didn’t know what he had just subjected himself to. He was about to become their cuddle buddy.

“Alright. I guess I’ll go get the details…oi, could you get off my assistant?”

They ignored me and continued to hug Eren. He looked at me apologetically and patted their back, obviously trying to say hug time was over, but Hanji wouldn’t let up.

“Hey I think the new kids just arrived,” I lied casually.

Hanji squealed and jumped off of Eren then ran out of the room immediately.

Eren swiftly walked over and followed me out of the room, “Really?!”

“No.”

He was silent for a moment then he started laughing.

“You can consider that your first lesson on how to deal with Hanji,” I stated dryly.

We made our way to Erwin’s office while we ignored the currently very busy main room.

As we entered Erwin’s office, Mike nodded at us on his way out and walked away talking on his phone. Erwin was inside his cave furiously typing away at his laptop. He nodded at us without looking up and I signaled for Eren to close the door.

“Alright Eyebrows, what’s the stitch?”

He stopped typing but continued to keep his focus on the screen as he scrolled through something, “Mr. and Mrs. Carolina live with their fourteen year old daughter and have been having strange unexplainable occurrences. Nothing too bad, but then their daughter got locked in the attic once so they’re worried something drastic could happen.”

“How old is the house?”

“Built in the 80’s. Nothing special.”

“Hmm.”

“I’m checking out the neighborhood right now. Mike is arranging things with the family.”

A knock came at the door and Eren looked at me questioningly. I nodded and he opened the door to let Petra in.

“Excuse me, but I’ve gone through some resources and found that they had a miscarriage several years before their daughter was born.”

Erwin’s eyebrows shot straight up and he glanced up at her, “Ah! Excellent, you can use that easily.”

Eren looked at the floor with wide eyes and his eyebrows furrowed. He mouthed the word ‘excellent’ questioningly and I couldn’t help but laugh on the inside. Poor kid didn’t understand.

Erwin looked back to his computer, then stopped himself and looked up again as Petra was leaving, “Ah Petra! Actually, go ask Armin about miscarriage theories he might have something on that.”

She nodded and moved to leave again but bumped into Hanji on the way. They laughed for about half a second then continued in their directions.

Hanji hustled in breathlessly, “They’re here!”

Erwin immediately looked away from his laptop and followed Hanji out of the office.

I looked to Eren, about to tell him to ask him if he had any opinion on the current position of the case but instead I ended up laughing at his shocked face.

He looked up at me like a deer looking into headlights, “What just happened why is Erwin glad about a miscarriage in the Carolina’s history?”

I shook my head and gently pushed him out of the room, “Don’t worry about it, we can talk about it after we meet this two.”

We joined the gathering in the main room and watched as Moblit entered the room followed by a short guy with a shaved head and a brunette with a long and straight ponytail. Mike exited as they entered, most likely to avoid the noise about to happen.

The two kids looked extremely happy. When they got in and faced the group however, I noticed the undeniable look of recognition in their eyes.

Their eyes darted from face to face. They paused on me for a moment but I noted that their gaze fell on Eren the longest. The girl had tears in her eyes.

I looked to Erwin and Hanji questioningly but was surprised to find them looking at each other with panicked expressions.

They quickly rushed forward and each grabbed an arm of one of the new kids.

“Here, let’s talk in another room,” Erwin suggested through clenched teeth.

We all watched quietly as they dragged the kids away into Hanji’s office and disappeared. After a moment everyone shrugged and went back to whatever they were previously doing. Even Moblit found something to do without Hanji around.

Eren and I stood in place looking after the suspicious quartet.

I glanced up at Eren curiously and found him staring straight ahead in deep thought.

“I wonder what that was about…” he whispered.

“Do you know them?” I asked.

He turned to me with unfocused eyes and shook his head, “No…but I get the feeling they know me.”

I recalled that he was pretty good at getting a feel for strangers. I then understood what Armin and Mikasa had been asking him about during the interview, because I was about to do the same thing. “What else could you tell?”

“They’re intense. They’re really goofy but they’re very skilled with their talents and should not be underestimated at all…”

He trailed off so I raised an eyebrow and patiently waited for him to finish.

He shook his head as if clearing his thoughts and his gaze finally focused in on me.

“I don’t know why…but I think their names are Sasha and Connie.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> also, i dont know how to fix this but it seems theres automatically a note under this one that was originally intended for only the first chapter  
> i make a shit ton of typos and the first chapter was an exception because i got to go over it a few times id just like to make that clear
> 
> i had planned originally planned for a few more fun chapters to roll in before anything serious happened but i'm either gonna try to fuse it with the first case (if thats possible) or just insert it between the first and second cases  
> i'll give you a heads up before those fun chapters come though *^*


	5. Basically

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Straaange happenings going on. Eren and Levi are left out of the loop and are very confused.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i feel like this chapter is really shitty i apologize  
> i also apologize for the weird hyperlinking going on? it was pointed out to me in the last chapter and I honestly don't know why it's there, my computer is apparently doing it by itself and doesn't want me stopping it 0_0

I narrowed my eyes at him, not in suspicion, but in confusion.

He said he could guess things about their personalities; he said nothing about actually knowing hardcore details about them.

“How would you know that?”

He blinked and his face went blank, “Know what?”

“That their names are Sasha and Connie.”

He slowly frowned at me, “Wait…what?”

“What do you mean ‘what’?”

“What are you talking about?”

What the hell. “What you just said about those kids.”

He looked around the room really nervously as if he hoped someone would hop over and explain what was happening. “I didn’t say anything about them?”

That’s it. I was already done with his unidentified talent. He needed to get that under control.

“You said you knew their names.”

“No, you told me their names.”

Wtf. “Eren, what?”

“Didn’t you say that their names are Sasha and Connie when they came in?”

“No. No I did not.”

He looked down at the floor, somewhat sorrowful, then looked back up at me pitifully, “I’m sorry… I don’t understand what’s happening. I think I may be sick.”

This kid. I gave him a quizzical look and was prepared to just send him to Hanji for a checkup but that reminded me that we had another issue.

“Let’s discuss this later. Right now we need to go see what Erwin and Hanji are up to.”

He nodded, visibly relieved at the new objective, and followed me down the hall to Hanji’s office.

I barged in completely uncaring of what may be happening.

They were chatting happily with no signs of the previous situation on their faces.

“Oh Levi, perfect timing, would you help us out?”

“With what?” I asked incredulously.

“Sasha is willing to show us her talent. Connie can’t really do anything as his are not up for whenever he feels like it, but Sasha wants to show us!” Hanji cheered.

I’d talk to them later. It wasn’t something I wanted to confront them about in front of three kids. Ugh too many things to discuss with people later, I’m glad I had an assistant finally but at the same time this assistant was problematic already.

I reluctantly agreed and went further into the room to join them.

Eren followed close behind me, obviously less reluctant than myself.

“What are we doing?”

Erwin looked to Hanji, respecting that they were the psychic expert, and allowed them to take control. “Hmm how about this…Levi come stand in front of us while facing Sasha. Now hold up however many fingers you want to behind your back and Sasha you tell us how many he’s holding up!”

I nodded and obeyed.

Sasha looked at me thoughtfully then snickered. She leaned over and whispered something in Connie’s ear so I took the moment to change the amount of fingers I was holding up. She glanced up at me then buckled over from laughter. I could also hear giggling coming from behind me.

“You’re holding up one finger sir. The only one that truly matters,” she finally spoke between catching her breath.

I pulled my hand out from behind my back to reveal that I had been flipping her (and technically Erwin and Hanji as well) off.

“Originally it was no fingers at all,” Sasha went on.

Hanji clapped and Erwin nodded with an expression that told us he was very impressed as I walked back to stand by Eren. I was not surprised to find Bean circling Eren’s feet. For some reason the cat had taken a liking to him.

Eren on the other hand was eyeing Connie and Sasha with admiration. He was clearly in awe by the show but I had a feeling he was capable of similar things. I was going to have to keep it a secret from Hanji though…they would most definitely steal him away if they knew he had been showing signs of such abilities because; one, they liked him already anyway and two, he would have started off in tests _not_ knowing anything about his abilities so Hanji would get to witness him discovering them.

“So what are we doing?” I asked Erwin. To be honest, I wasn’t sure what Eyebrows was doing/ going to do.

“Well we’d like to offer you both a job here.”

“Well we think that’s awesome,” Connie replied.

What was he planning on doing with them though. We were in no position to suddenly let those kids in and we had to make preparations for the new clients.

Erwin ran a hand through his hair and sighed, “Well, we’re actually quite very busy today, do you think you could start work on Wednesday?”

They nodded eagerly and stood up, “That sounds good.”

They all shook hands and smiled at each other.

Then it came to me and Eren. They smiled and nodded at me but gave nothing but a glance to Eren.

They _avoided_ him and left pretty quickly.

He looked after them with a frown as I turned to Erwin who was beginning to leave, “I’m going to show Eren around. Let us know if you need anything.”

He nodded and for some reason wouldn’t look at me. Same went for Hanji as they followed Erwin out and didn’t look at me or Eren.

I narrowed my eyes and turned to him, “Is it just me or…”

“I feel offended after that encounter.”

I nodded and pinched the bridge of my nose, “Ugh. Whatever, I’ll talk to them about it. In the meantime I need to show you where everything is so we can get ready for this new case.”

“About thaaaat…you sure you don’t want to do it after the case is finished? Everything’s really hectic out there because of new people…”

He had a point. I was a bit surprised that it bothered him though. “True…do you not like crowds?”

“I’m not liking anybody today.”

I smirked and left the room, “Well it seems I’ve played my intimidation card well then.”

He jogged after me and sped walked to keep up with me even though he was a good ten centimeters taller, “Th-that’s not what I meant! I didn’t mean that I don’t like _you_! It’s just that it’s been a really weird day so-”

I paused in front of my office and patted his chest, “It’s fine, I get it. I was just teasing you.” Then I had to promptly pull my hand away though because if it had lingered any longer it would have roamed he was a fit boy oh Lord somebody give me a way to get his shirt off without being forward about it.

He smiled in relief and followed me in, “Ah okay…”

I went straight to my desk to look into this Carolina family but unfortunately that left Eren standing awkwardly by the door.

I half expected him to either timidly ask me for what to do or play around on his phone, but I was extremely pleased to find he actually grabbed a book and sat down on the futon to read it.

“When do we get off today?”

“Normal time.” Erwin had faxed each new employee job details over the weekend, but he also emphasized that hours were going to vary a lot based on what was going on. The others got to go home earlier than Erwin, Mike, Hanji, Moblit and I usually did due to the fact we were the head people, but the usual time was four.

“So am I basically just going to be attached to your hip from now on?”

“Basically.”

There was a gentle knock at the door and Moblit popped his head into the room.

“Message from Hanji.”

I looked up from my laptop and stared at him expectantly, just a teensy bit pissed that Hanji was avoiding me.

“They still want to go on with tomorrow evening’s plans.”

“Even with the case undergo?”

“They said it’d be best to do it before the investigation begins.”

I sighed and nodded to let him know that I had received and processed the message.

“What are tomorrow’s plans?” Eren piped up.

“It’s a surprise. Don’t worry, I think you’ll like it.”

He was silent for a moment as I turned back to my ‘research’, then he asked quietly, “Hanji’s sending Moblit to talk to you because they’re avoiding you.”

It sounded like a statement, but at the same time he sounded unsure of himself. Like he was just looking for clarification.

“Basically.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok so i figured it out  
> how those fun chapters i keep obsessing over are going to play out (if anybody even reads these notes)  
> they'll be coming up right after the next chapter.  
> and does anybody have any theories on what's really going on in the Carolina's household?  
> I'm curious


	6. He Says They're Scams?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> kind of a filler chapter  
> waaaay longer than i expected it to be so i made this a chapter by itself  
> so that fun event is the chapter after the next? if the next chapter is also unexpectedly long  
> blah :P  
> this starts off with a teeny bit of Levi in the beginning because I just HAD to add it in, then the rest is Eren

At about lunch time I finally wanted a break.

I rubbed my eyes and leaned back in my chair because, wow, staring at a computer screen for over three hours does wonders for your eyes. Bad wonders. Terrible wonders; I was going blind. I could only imagine Eren’s state.

Speaking of him. I haven’t heard a peep for over three hours which was most suspicious.

I glanced at him as I stretched and found him slacking off. I was going to scold him, but then considering what he was doing, I decided to let it slide.

You know what he was doing? He was taking a nap.

But you know what reaaaaaally sold me?

He was wrapped up in my blankets.

Point one for Team Levi, take that.

~~

On the second day of work I was late again. But it wasn’t entirely my fault.

The first day of work had been really hectic so I was dead by the time I got home. I was dead at work too. Mr. Ackerman apparently let me sleep the whole day away, so really all I got was about two crazy hours and then a whole day of sleep.

And you know what? I was still tired.

Mikasa and Armin on the other hand seemed fine. Armin was rather excited to head back; he and Petra were working together on uncovering myths about the spirits of children of miscarriages so he was having fun (as to why he and Erwin were upbeat about that certain miscarriage, I will never know).

Mikasa was the same. She said she liked work. She didn’t really do much. She help out here and there, got her own little office set up, and got to really get to know people. I was kind of jealous of that- I really didn’t get to meet anyone.

I would have brought stuff to decorate my desk, but Mr. Ackerman had informed me that we’d be going to the Carolina’s house that day, so there was really no reason in decorating until the case was finished. He apologized for me having to suddenly be jammed into all this shit but he also said he was confident that I could handle this shit.

He was a very strange man. He laughed at his own poop jokes.

I had discovered I liked him a lot more than I originally predicted I would. At first I was really iffy about him but after he whacked my head with a plastic fish I decided I liked him. I also quite liked his booty but we can leave that monologue for another time.

After thinking about Mr. Ackerman I was a little bit more energized.

I’m serious man I really did like him. He was really kind and observant yet he liked to play it off as though he were cold and unamused all the time. I also got the feeling he was being unusually careful with me…like he wouldn’t usually be so kind to someone of my status compared to him, yet he was.

It may have been because he had reason to believe I was going crazy. Yesterday we had some weird mix up where he had heard me say something, but I had no recollection of saying it, but he was 100% sure I said it…but I didn’t?? It was weird.

When we rolled into the parking lot I saw a grey van with people working about it.

Marco and Gunter were placing camera bags inside of it, while Levi was furiously cleaning it.

“What is he doing?” Mikasa wondered out loud.

“Cleaning.”

“Why?”

“He’s a ‘stickler for cleanliness’. Also we get a nice view of his ass so-”

She sharply turned to me with a glare and I shut my mouth.

Obviously liking the Levi booty was not Mikasa-approved.

Armin got out and stuffed all of his books and papers he could fit into his arms, thus competing his I’m-a-Fucking-Nerd appearance.

“You guys are heading out to the Carolina’s house today,” he explained to Mikasa.

“You aren’t?” She frowned.

“Nah, they want to keep as many newer people here as they can manage.”

“Then why…?”

I wanted a turn to seem involved and well-informed. “Levi requested you join us.”

She seemed a little surprised by that, but she didn’t ask any more questions.

We got out of the car and walked over to the van gathering. When we got to it, a bottle of windex was thrown at my head.

“Help me clean, brat,” Mr. Ackerman sneered.

Mikasa thankfully caught it before it collided with me and handed it to me in a less violent manner. “But Mr. Ackerman-”

He immediately sat up and whipped around to face me, “What did you just call me?”

I glanced nervously at Mikasa who was staring ahead blankly and not offering any help, “Mr…Ackerman?”

“You do realize Hanji laughed last time you said that.”

“Yes sir.”

“And will continue to laugh every time you say that.”

“Uh…I guess so sir?”

“Then why are you still calling me that.”

“Sorry…Levi…sir?”

He sighed and went back to cleaning, “Whatever, just help me.” He glanced at Armin and Mikasa and jerked his head towards the building, “You two go get instructions from Mike or Erwin.”

They nodded and walked off, mercilessly leaving me with Levi.

And so we cleaned. It was pretty boring. I kind of thought he’d disapprove of my cleaning based on how intensely he was working, but he glanced at me every so often and didn’t say anything so I guess I was in the clear.

Marco offered to help at some point but was promptly called away by Gunter.

At some point I noticed nobody had been around the car except for Levi and myself in a while.

“Uhh…Levi?”

He grunted and didn’t bother looking up.

“Where did everyone go?”

He shrugged and sat up, “Somewhere.”

“Should I go see if they’re discussing something?”

He stood up and tossed a rag in the van, “Let’s both go. I think we’re done here.”

“When was the last time this van was used?” I wondered.

“About a month ago.”

“Has it been that long since you’ve had a case?!” That was surprising. They were a pretty well-known group- I kind of expected they were always busy.

He held the building’s door open for me, “No, it’s just the last time we needed the whole van packed up.”

I frowned but didn’t ask anything more due to not knowing what to ask.

He let the door close behind me but didn’t walk further into the building, “Listen kid, I don’t think we’re the people you think we are.”

I tilted my head in confusion and decided it’d be best to let him just talk it out. He kind of sounded like he was about to get angsty.

“We tend to cheat.”

‘Cheat’…? How does one cheat in this business exactly.

“Like this case we’re about to go on. If they don’t actually have a spirit there, we’re going to pretend they do and make it as realistically dramatic as possible to get the spirit out.”

“We’re so convincing because we _do_ have talent here. Petra for example, she’s already got a lead with the whole miscarriage thing. You realize how manipulative she can be with that, right?”

“Gunter, Oluo and Erd are really good at editing videos and adding effects. True, you can check a video for if it’s been edited and that happens a lot in this industry, but they know a way around it.”

“So…it’s all fake?”

He looked away for a second and didn’t answer.

“But you guys have papers…scientific published stuff! You’re _recognized_ in the parapsychology community as pros!”

He nodded, “Not all of it is fake. We have solid work. Just some things are acted out. Seed of truth within the lie, yeah?”

Wow that really _was_ angsty. I couldn’t help but laugh. Which in turn made him stare at me with a weird look.

“You’re making it seem worse than it really is Mr. Ack- Levi.”

He was beginning to look kind of mad, “What do you mean??”

“You made it seem as if you’re just a bunch of scams.”

“We are.”

“But you actually supply genuine evidence?”

“Yes.”

“That’s really not that bad Levi.”

He gave me another estranged look which made me laugh again. I started towards the other room and waved for him to follow.

He hesitated but eventually came.

I really didn’t have a problem with them lying a few times. They were still an amazing group that I respected; putting on a few shows to get money didn’t really bother me. It sounds like they only did it when there was nothing else to do, so they were kind of just having fun with it? I don’t know.

Besides with so much power in the group with all the new recruits I really wouldn’t mind joking around a bit…

On the way to the main room I ran into Mike. He put his hands on my shoulders to steady me as I wobbled over and nodded, “I was just about to go get you. We’re discussing upcoming arrangements.”

In the main room everyone was gathered much similarly to the day before.

“Now I believe we are all aware there’s a case undergo,” Erwin began, “Due to the fact that half of you were hired a few days ago and you’ve been here for one day, we are not going to bring most of you. Only a few of us are going to the house today to see the situation. We may need to bring everyone at one point, we may not. We really can’t say for sure with anything we do.”

“Today it’ll just be myself, Mike, Levi, Eren, Mikasa, Oluo and Petra. The rest of you need to continue as though we weren’t gone on a case.”

Hanji leaned forward and pitched in, “Tonight will be a late night for everyone though.”

“Why?” Jean asked for everyone.

Erwin and Hanji simultaneously winked, “You’ll see.”

Everyone just kind of shrugged. I guess nobody had a life and didn’t really care about spending an evening at work.

“Well then everybody split up!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> just wanna say thanks for reading ^_^ im so excited to write this thing writing is taking so long but i want to tell the story properly ugh *^* i wish I had more time to write
> 
> also, anyone wondering were annie, bertolt and reiner are? they're not going to be left out  
> i wonder what they could be doing hmmmm?  
> any guesses as to who will meet them and how?


	7. Her Name is Mina

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eren's first day working on a case is actually pretty boring. Besides one weird encounter he isn't sure how to feel about, his day is pretty uneventful so far.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 2 chapter update today WHOAaaoooAooaoa I'm so wild  
> it's actually because one of them was pre-written :3  
> anyhoodle so the NEXT chapter is officially the beginning to a fun sequence before all the sad/dramatic/romantic sequences happen
> 
> this chapter is all erens pov btw

The Carolinas had a nice house. It had two stories and an attic. The front yard was well kept and its fresh green grass accented the pastel green house. Its aesthetic was really nice.

We marched behind Erwin and Levi in a seemingly strange group. I’m sure it looked suspicious to any neighbors that happened to see us.

Mr. and Mrs. Carolina immediately welcomed us inside with bright smiles. I didn’t have to be Petra to predict that their smiles were fake.  

“Thank you so much for coming,” Mr. Carolina greeted.

“You’re paying us after all,” Levi muttered. Erwin promptly elbowed him in the gut, but thankfully, neither of our clients noticed their brief exchange.

“Thank you for inviting us into your home. Before we get started, do you have any blue prints of your home we can see?” Erwin, our ultimate leader, spoke.

They glanced at each other nervously, “I don’t think so…do you need us to get that for you?”

Erwin gave them a tight smile and shook his head, “There’s no need. Oluo, can you get started on that?”

Oluo nodded and started off towards the front door to head back to the car (and may I just say, that was the most obedient I had even seen him be, I was shocked) when Levi jerked his thumb at Oluo, “Hey, why don’t you go help him?”

I frowned for the smallest of seconds, a little disappointed that I wouldn’t get to stick around, but nodded and ran off after Oluo. Obviously Erwin and Levi needed to stay, Erwin probably needed Mike, and Petra was an important asset to them as well as mapping out the house would be too much for one person, so I understood that I needed to go help Oluo.

I was still disappointed though.

He handed me a clipboard with paper and a pen then dove into the car again to grab a ruler. One of those things that sticks out for ever and ever, you know?

I, for one, was not looking forward to mapping out the house. It wasn’t particularly big, but it wasn’t particularly small.

We started off outside and worked out way in. I was a bit surprised at how okay Oluo was with it. He seemed like the kind of person who would be upset by being given such a task.

“Oluo?”

He looked up from his uncomfortable squatting position, “5.3 meters. What?”

I jotted down the numbers quickly and followed him as he headed into the backyard, “Why are you okay with doing this?”

“Making blue prints?”

“Yeah.”

He bent down again and ran the ruler to the other edge of the wall, “Because I always do it.”

“That doesn’t answer my question.”

He grunted and pulled the ruler back, “10.5 meters. Because I’m looking for a secret room.”

I hesitated before writing the numbers down and glanced at him, “Uh, what?”

He shrugged passively, “I want to find a secret room on one of these cases.”

I smiled and followed him around to the front door, “A secret room?”

“Yes. I saw a story once where a paranormal group found a secret room within the house they were investigating and it helped them solve the case, but nobody even knew the room was there. They wouldn’t have known it was there if it weren’t for the math in the blue prints they made not adding up.”

“Is that your reason for joining the SPT?”

“Well. Sort of.” He opened the door and closed it behind me, “I was following Petra. Finding a secret room was just motivation.”

“Following Petra? So you two…?”

We followed the sound of voices until we found the whole group in the (I assume) living room talking. “Is it okay to head upstairs?”

Mr. and Mrs. Carolina nodded eagerly and smiled at us before we headed off on our journey again.

He glanced at me over his shoulder once we reached to second floor and nodded, “But anyway, yes, ‘us two’.”

“That’s adorable,” I grinned.

He brushed the comment aside and turned to me, “I’m gonna go get some more stuff so we can divide and conquer. Go ahead and start with the right side.”

And with that he headed down stairs.

I followed my orders and headed to the nearest room on the right. There were two rooms and a bathroom on my side of the hall, then two rooms and a closet on the left side of the hall.

The first room I found must have been a guest room. It was very bland, yet still stylish enough to pass for a normal room. There was one bed neatly made and a large dresser on the wall next to it. The walls were the same color as the exterior of the house and there was a window on the wall opposite of the door.

The room made me feel a little queasy for no apparent reason so I hurried through my measurements and headed to the next room.

Entering this other room though, it occurred to me that I should have knocked.

A young girl stood in the room staring at a painting. She wore a plain white t-shirt with sleeves that went down to her forearms, and light blue jean capris. Her hair was split into two lose pigtails that fell passed her shoulders and for some reason when she turned to look at me I felt even queasier. Not queasy like ‘holy crap I just walked into some teenage girl’s room wtf is wrong with me’ it was like…déjà vu. Déjà vu queasy.

“I’m so sorry, I was just coming to measure rooms…” I somehow sounded calmer than I actually was, congrats me.

She smiled gently and waved as if waving the issue away, “Oh it’s fine, I knew you were coming. I probably shouldn’t be here anyway.”

“Oh...”

Her smile made me anxious. It brought a certain panic to me and I felt like I had an itch that I couldn’t reach.

She frowned at me, “Are you okay?”

“Yeah I just…I’m sorry, have we met before? I can’t shake this feeling…”

Her face went blank for a second and a grim look overcame her, then she shook her head and smiled warmly again, “No, I don’t think so. I’m Mina.”

She held out a hand. I was a bit hesitant to shake it but when I took her hand my previous anxiousness seemed to disappear. I breathed in relief and smiled back, “Eren. Eren Jaeger.”

When our hands separated that itch came back. The panic I felt remained gone, but there was still that itch I couldn’t understand.

“Well I should be going. I’ll let you get to work here…bye Eren!”

I watched her leave in confusion. Something felt awfully amiss about that conversation.

As she walked down the stairs, Oluo came up and he gave me a quizzical look, “What is it?”

I jumped a little and hurried back to work, “Oh! Sorry! I just got a bit distracted; all I have left is this room and the bathroom.”

“Alright. Hurry up then we’ll check the attic and go back downstairs.”

~~

The ride back to the building was quiet. We spent the whole day mapping while the others discussed the family’s history with the house.

Besides the attic incident, there had also been times where doors would randomly open and close and family photos would always go missing or move around. They had been fairly tolerant of the happenings and just brushed it off until their daughter got trapped in that incident and basically they were just concerned for their safety.

They seemed to be normal people. Mr. Carolina was a teacher at a high school and Mrs. Carolina was a chef at a local restaurant. I didn’t get all the details, but I did know Erwin was bringing Ymir with us tomorrow so I assumed they believed a spirit was present.

I sighed and leaned my head on Mikasa’s shoulder. She didn’t budge at all. I don’t quite know what I expected to do on a case, but making blue prints and talking the whole day certainly wasn’t it.

I opened my eyes and sat up when somebody poked my nose. I turned to face the culprit, Petra, who was smiling. “Heeey don’t make that face, be excited! We’re gonna have fun tonight!”

Erwin’s eyes flew to the rear view mirror to stare her down and Levi turned in his seat to send a glare at her.

“What? Does he not know?”

“What exactly are we doing tonight?” I asked. I remembered them saying we were going to have a late night but they never said why. Oh yeah it was a surprise.

Petra sank into her seat sheepishly, “I just thought since he’s your assistant he may have been in on it.”

“Shut up Petra,” Levi growled.

I decided to try to take the attention off of Petra before Levi came out of his seat to kill her, “Am I allowed to guess the surprise?”

He and Erwin both turned their attentions back to the road like before so we took that as a yes.

Petra clapped and adjusted herself to face me. Mike and Oluo even leaned forward to participate. Mikasa looked mildly interested since it was also a surprise to her, but she wasn’t going to lay out any guesses any time soon.

“Okaaay. Uhmmmm we’re all going to be experimented on by Hanji.”

They all laughed but shook their heads.

“If it were up to Hanji alone, I’ve no doubt that’s what would happen,” Levi commented.

“Weeeeeeeee’re gonna go hunt ghosts.”

Erwin and Mike snickered but besides that, the only reaction I got was the shaking of heads.

“Are we going to pull a prank on someone?” Well I was wrong. Mikasa was going to guess. Maybe our laughs were drawing her in.

Petra shook her head eagerly, “Noooooope.”

“Is it a giant orgy,” I deadpanned.

That got all the guys laughing. Minus Levi. Mikasa and Levi gave me disapproving stares and Petra just stared blankly.

“If it were up to Levi alone, that’s probably what it would be,” Erwin joined in.

Levi shot him a look that could kill a hundred men in a second flat but made no move to physically harm him- only because Erwin was driving.

Levi then shot me a look that told me if I laughed he would shove his fist down my throat.

I laughed anyway. I had Mikasa sitting next to me; I wasn’t worried.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so. today i think i figured out all that's happening in this fic. it's certainly eventful and i think you'll like it but man strap down those seat belts and get ready for a long intense ride.  
> I won't say much, but i will say that after the Carolina's case there will be two more cases, a psychic reading and two 'training' sessions (not specifically in that order and those are just sort of my place markers).  
> this is going so much longer than i expected i didnt realise how much time this would take until i started writing it of course.  
> ahh anyway thanks for reading! !


	8. In Which We Discover Connie Cannot Be Surprised

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The intro to the fun sequence

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter is all levi's POV

When we had finally returned to our headquarters we all gathered around for the revealing of this ‘surprise’ event.

I was surprised to see that even Sasha and Connie had been called in. I certainly wouldn’t have remembered to get them, so kudos to whoever did that.

In all honesty, it wasn’t that big. It was simply something we had planned in hopes to get everybody to trust each other. We had to be a team so it was kind of important that we acted like one. We had a similar event when the first half of the group came to be, so we decided that after doubling our numbers, a second event was called for.

It really wasn’t much. Literally for the first time, we just got drunk and talked about spooky experiences.

You’d be surprised by how much you come to trust someone after getting wasted with them.

“So tonight we are going to be doing a sort of, trust excessive, if you will. Just a little something  so we really get to know each other and have fun before we start trying to talk to the dead.”

The newbies seemed a little confused over what Erwin had announced but the others creepily grinned simultaneously.

Connie seemed fairly excited. Kid must have seen it coming. I bet that whole predicting the future thing made surprises less surprisey.

Sasha tilted her head, also probably having seen something about the event, “Is there alcohol involved? Some of us are still 20…”

I shook my head, “No, no alcohol.”

Sasha smirked, “Ahhh so there was alcohol last time?”

Mike chuckled (though it sounded like a cough and/or sneeze), “Lots of it.”

“So what exactly are we doing??” Jean interrupted.

Erwin cleared his throat and nodded, “Right, so first we’ll be going out. No new people can know what’s happening, so if there is a new person driving you will simply follow another car; ah yes, that means we’ll all be carpooling.”

“Which cars?”

Jean had unintentionally become the leader of all the new recruits and it was actually kind of nice…I mean, I only had to take care of Jaeger and I could just put everyone else under Jean.

Erwin winced, “I figured I’d leave that up for discussion, but seeing as there are now eighteen of us, it may take a while.”

Moblit, being the smart sense that Hanji lacked, pulled out a white board and began jotting down what everyone discussed. You had to be thankful of that man. He was probably the only normal one there. I don’t even know what he was doing working for SPT. I certainly don’t know why he _continued_  after he got to know Hanji.

 A little while later we had finally reached a verdict; four cars were heading out.

In my sleek, made-for-speed car would be myself, Eren, Petra and Oluo. In Hanji’s atmosphere-aware smart car, would be Erwin, Moblit and Mike. In Jean’s truck would be himself and Marco with Gunter and Erd who had asked to sit in the trunk just for the hell of it. Then finally, in Eren’s/Armin’s/Mikasa’s simple four door car would be Armin, Mikasa, Sasha, Connie, and Historia sitting on Ymir’s lap.

Jean and Armin were instructed to just follow either mine or Hanji’s car and they’d be golden. They were all told they didn’t need anything and after getting everything situated we headed out.

Since it was, after all, an event for the younger folks, I let Eren plug his phone into the speaker and told him to play whatever music he wanted.

He looked at me with wide-eyes and asked if I was sure. I vaguely wondered if he liked weird music or if I was really just that strict, but said yes.

Then suddenly very loud and vulgar rap music was blaring in my car.

I shook my head at him as I backed up the car, “Really Eren? This is what you listen to?”

He grinned and shook his head furiously, “Oh, no! This is my road rage music.”

Petra and Oluo burst out laughing in the back and after they showed their support of the music, how was I supposed to fight against it? I was outnumbered.

I suddenly slammed on the breaks and successfully threw everyone in my car forward, as well as caused a chain reaction to the line of cars behind me.

When everyone looked at me wondrously with concern, I simply smirked.

“Tonight you are going to watch me prove just how good of a driver I am.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yes eren has specific road rage music hello how do you do


	9. On The Other Hand, Sasha Can the Surprised

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sasha tells a story

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> do you ever just write something  
> and realise  
> you wrote a ship that originally wasn't supposed to be there  
> yeah.  
> you'll see the possible ship at the end of the chapter just wait for it.
> 
> anyway ill be up marathoning aot in cosplay tonight so i went ahead and updated this a little early. huzzah.
> 
> this chapter is all sasha's pov

“Where are we going?” Mikasa muttered.

Armin turned around in the front passenger seat to look at me, “Sasha? Do you know?”

I wondered if I should tell them or keep it a secret. I decided I’d tell them a little bit.

“I don’t know exactly, but I can tell we’re going out to eat.”

Jean scoffed and his voice boomed from the phone, “I bet you’re excited about that, Potato-girl.”

I sighed and raised my hands in an expression of ‘I-Am-So-Done’, “You eat a potato in class ONE TIME and you’re forever Potato-girl!!”

Connie snorted beside me and Marco’s beautiful laughter rang through the air.

We decided to make conspiracy theories over a phone call (on speaker phone of course) since the ‘surprise’ was for us (true, Jean had two ‘veterans’ in his car, but they were in the trunk so they couldn’t hear him) but they weren’t getting anywhere.

“Mr. Levi seems to dislike us all. Maybe he’s going to poison our food,” Jean hypothesized.

“He seems to like Eren,” Ymir pointed out.

“Yeah, so he won’t poison Eren, he’ll poison all of us newbies instead,” Jean concluded.

“Eren wouldn’t stay here if we all died,” Armin scolded, “Mr. Levi knows better- it would just push Eren away instead.”

“What if it’s like one of those murder mystery dinner places and we have to solve a fake case as practice?!” Connie suggested.

Ymir rolled her eyes, “I don’t think they’re cool enough to think of that.”

“Connie, you can’t see what we’re going to?” Historia asked hesitantly.

“Nah, I don’t think it’s important enough for me to see it,” he admitted.

“They’re pulling into Olive Garden!” Marco called out.

See we were following Jean, who was following Erwin, who was following Levi.

Connie scrunched his nose, “Olive Garden?”

“Weird choice.”

Mikasa parked the car next to Jean and Armin grabbed his phone to hang up.

I climbed out of the car over Connie’s lap and groaned obnoxiously, “UUUUUUUUUUGH.”

Connie lightly shoved me out of the way, “Get outta my way Potato-girl!”

“Shut up Psychic boy.”

“Sasha, you’re psychic too,” Ymir grunted as she followed Historia out of the car.

Eren came jogging over to us with a breathless smile. Poor kid was the only noob in his car.

I knew he enjoyed it though. He had fun.

He tugged at the sleeve of one of Mikasa’s and Armin’s jackets, much like a child, and grinned, “Hey! We’re gonna eat here!”

Mikasa raised an eyebrow and gave him a small smile (which I later realized was the first time I’d ever seen her smile!), “We figured out that much at least.”

My stomach gave war-cry that prompted us to enter the food-filled establishment.

A table had already been reserved for us under Erwin’s name. But I guess when you have a party that large you kind of had to reserve it beforehand.

I wish they could have told us we’d be going somewhere a bit fancy because I was currently wearing holed jeans, tennis shoes and a t-shirt that read ‘If found return to Swaggy’.

(of course Connie had a shirt that read ‘Hi I’m Swaggy’)

We weren’t the only under dressed ones though- pretty much everyone was under dressed. Except for the three bosses because they always seemed to be in formal-ish wear. And I say always loosely because it was only my second time seeing them.

I found it interesting that they wanted to have this sort of bonding thing. We were all okay with each other, but you’d thing with our previous ties we’d all already have a sort of unspoken bond.

Hanji and Erwin didn’t seem to think so.

I only say that because we’d all been together in our past lives. Connie and I met Jean and Marco back in high school and made sure to never lose them, because up until then, they were the only ones we had found. We were devastated when we found out they didn’t remember, but we left it alone. We were a bit relieved they could finally be together without that pain.

Of course remembering all of it was hard for us, but…we just kind pulled through, you know?

We just kind of accepted the fact we’d have to bear that burden.

Hanji and Erwin had informed us that they predicted people only remembered if they recovered a previous relationship- such as Erwin and Hanji’s trust or mine and Connie’s friendship.

They would only remember once they rekindled that.

Connie and I were confused by the fact that Jean and Marco hadn’t remembered even with them being deeply in love, but then we remembered they never had the full chance to love last time so that wouldn’t be it.

When we arrived as SPT we were overwhelmed by the group there. Connie had seen a vision of it, but no words or epiphany could prepare us for _actually_ seeing them again.

We assumed more of them would have remembered, but apparently not. Erwin and Hanji also informed us that they were the only ones they knew of that remembered. They suspected that Petra, Oluo and Gunter remembered, but no one else did.

We weren’t okay with that. That’s why they gave us a little bit more time to recoop. They knew we needed a bit to accept the fact that these people had no clue who they used to be.

Connie couldn’t see anything in the future of anyone remembering so we spent the whole time we were gone planning how to get them to remember.

True, that may be mean considering out past, but at the same time, isn’t it also horrifying to imagine people surrounding you remembering your past life but _you don’t have a clue?_ We felt they deserved to know.

As well as we’d seen in the Akashic records that if they were going to remember at any time, now was the time to get it done.

Akashic records, how do I describe them? Imagine…a giant library in the sky. In this library, there is all the information in the universe. Every single thing is documented and well analyzed. Everything in the past, the present and the future. Everything is there.

This library is not tangible though. It’s a psychic thing. It was kinda rare for psychics to actually access it, but it wasn’t unheard of. Besides Connie, I didn’t personally know anybody that could go there.

Anyway, you can look up certain things. Obviously, some things have to be kept from you or are conveniently unavailable (yeah right, the freaking librarians were just being mean), so we can’t know _everything_.

We were able to find out that it was the safest time for them to remember as well as the easiest time for them to, so we had to start shipping _fast_.

We were a little shocked that Eren, Armin and Mikasa didn’t remember since obviously that trio’s relationship had remained permanent, but nonetheless, we plowed on.

We hoped that maybe some action in a paranormal case would remind Eren and Mikasa, and maybe even Armin if we got involved.

We also hoped Levi would remember by connecting with either Eren or Mikasa. Eren because we flat out shipped it and it needed to happen, and Mikasa because they were like mirrors last time so it seemed fitting.

Another possibility for Eren was with Jean. They had a friendly rivalry last go around so it seemed plausible?

Quite honestly we were confused about Ymir and Christa- uh, Historia (her going by mainly Historia this time threw me off). They were still lesbian lovers. Why hadn’t they remembered??

We sort of hoped Marco would remember with Mina since they had both been friends that died young, but Mina was nowhere to be seen.

Also nowhere to be seen, were the three most suspicious cases.

Annie, Reiner and Bertolt.

Connie and I had been a bit anxious about them to be honest.

We weren’t sure if they’d be the antagonistic roles this go around again, or if they would be normal people.

Would they meet us having already remembered since they had previous advantages before or??

They made us worry.

But ahhh yeah, we always had to think a step ahead. We kind of had no choice considering our abilities?

We knew we’d be lonely though. Working around everyone while they didn’t remember would be torture. I don’t even know how Erwin and Hanji managed for (I assume) so long…

“Sasha, you want a bread stick?”

I looked to my left to see Christa offering me one of Olive Garden’s famous bread sticks. The irony of her offering me bread made me almost cry.

Connie and I were also aware that it was going to be extremely hard keeping up our goofiness around them.

I nodded and accepted the bread stick, “Thank you Christa.”

She frowned instantly, “Christa?”

I froze. Damn. Damn. Daaaaaaaaaamn son holy oh no someone save me.

Ymir leaned over and also stared at me with a confused face, “How do you know she goes by Christa sometimes?”

Jean snorted from across the table and grabbed his own bread stick, “She probably knew with her special powers, don’t be surprised. She knows all.”

I rolled my eyes, relieved that he had given me an excuse and chuckled, “I don’t know all Jean.”

“However, she does eat all,” Connie added as he raised a piece of bread into the air, about to throw it.

I caught his eye for a brief second before he threw it and knew he was also just as relieved as I was that Jean had unknowingly saved me.

And of course, I caught the bread in my mouth.

Everyone laughed and applauded, then it set off a game for everyone to try to catch bread in their mouth.

We got weird stares from everyone else in the restaurant, but nobody came over to say anything. Probably because Erwin was in charge of us and he was fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine. Nobody would mess with somebody so handsome.

And even if they wanted to, Levi, the tiny chiseled Greek God sat beside him and was ready to kill in an instant.

Mikasa, who was sitting directly across from me, nodded at me and questioningly lifted a piece of bread.

I was a bit surprised. I hadn’t said anything to her yet, she didn’t seem like the personality to mix with mine, and in addition to Christa offering me bread all of the reflections on our past lives were suffocating.

I nodded and told her to bring it on.

Perhaps I would be the relation to help her remember.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter was supposed to be fun. but it was sad instead.  
> it happened because as I was writing is I was realizing how sad Sasha would actually be.  
> okay so NEXT chapter will be fun.
> 
> ps. YES the Akashick records are a real thing, NO i do not know if i am spelling it properly xD and YES it is cool as fuck


	10. Why Even

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> how do summary here

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *dumps late update on you and runs away*
> 
> this chapter goes through the povs of:  
> Hanji,  
> then Jean,  
> and Eren.

After getting kicked out of Olive Garden for a food fight, on the way back to the headquarters, Erwin did something amazing and suicidal;

He gave me the keys.

Of course I played it cool and simply accepted them and got into the driver’s seat while everyone stared in horror and gawked, but as soon as we got in the car I freaked out.

He wanted me to drive.  Yaaaaaaaaaas!

Once Erwin, Mike, Mobit and I were peacefully settled in the car, I drove like a safe person up to the side of Levi’s car.

See the best thing about the people who were in the car with me was that they didn’t fear me. They encouraged me or balanced with me.

I rolled down my window and pointed at Eren’s window to tell them to roll it down too.

Levi rolled his eyes but Eren, amazing Eren, rolled down the window eagerly.

“Aye short stuff, you wanna race?”

He pressed the gas pedal to make his engine roar and smirked but didn’t turn to address me, “Bring it on four-eyes.”

Erwin leaned forward to talk to him, “You guide Armin’s car and we’ll take Jean’s?”

Upon hearing Erwin’s voice, Levi turned to face us, “Eyebrows, are you seriously encouraging them?”

Erwin kept his gaze unwavering and answered with all sincerity, “Why else would I give them the keys?”

“Fine but the race starts now.” Then he was nyooming off into the distance.

We took off immediately after and took a different route.

Erwin, Levi and I had a very healthy rivalry that we liked to indulge every once in a while.

Driving cars dangerously fast over bumpy roads happened to be our choice at the time.

Once we got on a fairly small road that nobody was on, I slowed down until Jean’s truck was forced to tap my car and I drove in a zig zag pattern while only going five miles per hour.

Erwin laughed at the sour expressions we were seeing through the rear view mirrors and rejoiced when they started honking at us.

They decided to try to follow our example but they very quickly got fed up with it and resolved to just continuously honk at us.

I sped up and zoomed away before they had the chance to process what had happened.

“Hanji,” Mike spoke up holding back a laugh, “I can’t even see them anymore.”

I glanced in the mirror and, sure enough, Jean’s truck was nowhere to be seen. Poor dude. He just couldn’t keep up.

When we reached a small intersection Erwin tapped my arm and pointed at a large driveway to our right, “Hey Hanji- pull in there and turn around.

I did as I was told with a smile- Erwin’s idea was to hide in the driveway and when Jean came to the intersection wondering where we were, we could just zoom by right in front of them. Brilliant.

I turned the car lights off and sat back as we waited. They were quite a bit away. And we actually were quite well hidden. One, it was dark since it was late and the car lights were off, and two because it was a sort of hidden driveway in the first place.

Eventually they came around and remained still due to confusion. They were probably trying to decide what to do since they couldn’t see us.

Erwin rolled down the windows then gave me a nod and in a flash the lights were back on and I was driving by cackling out the windows as I went.

It was like a slow motion movie scene. Petra and Oluo had apparently moved to Jean’s truck so they could sit in the back with Gunter and Erd so we could see the four of them turn and watch us with wide eyes. Marco’s mouth fell open in surprise and Jean looked to pissed I thought he may have actually pissed himself.

Then we were back to driving maybe 30 miles over the speed limit and laughing out heads off.

 

\--

 

We pulled up to the intersection frustrated beyond belief.

Hanji and Erwin had flat out disappeared because they were busy racing Levi or something and we didn’t know where to go. Those Goddamn assholes.

Marco opened up the window behind us to call out to the others, “Did you guys see where they went?”

Petra leaned forward with concern plastered on her face and shook her head, “No, we didn’t see anything.”

“Maybe we should just guess?” Gunter mused.

“Don’t you guys know the way?” I growled.

Oluo didn’t seem at all concerned, “No. We weren’t part of the planning, they just told us what we were going to do.”

Suddenly bright lights flashed on our right and a car went  zooming by in front of us.

And you know who was sticking their head out the window cackling at us? Hanji.

And you know who was sitting beside them laughing? Erwin.

Weren’t they supposed to be the responsible people in charge of us?

Whatever. I immediately charged after them throwing caution to the wind. I was going to beat both them and Levi,  just watch me.

“Do you think we should have had Historia in our car?” I vaguely wondered as I focused on tailgating Hanji.

“Uh, why?” Marco replied nervously.

“I don’t know maybe she could have used her telekinetic powers to make Hanji slow the fuck down.”

“Technically they did slow down at one point.”

“Yeah but they were going five miles an hour!!!”

He chuckled and changed the subject, “Why don’t we call Armin’s car again and see how they’re doing?”

I grunted and handed him my phone.

Petra poked her head in the window again, “Why are we going so fast?”

“Are you trying to go so fast we fall out the back? Because you may reach that goal soon,” Erd called out while laughing.

“Just trying to beat Hanji and Levi to the headquarters.”

“I think there’s a short cut around here,” Erd called.

Armin’s voice suddenly filled the car, “I think Mr. Levi is actually trying to kill Eren oh my God.”

“Oh take a left,” Erd continued.

I nodded and left Marco to communicate with Armin. “What do you mean?! Is Eren okay?”

“Well since Petra and Oluo moved to your car, it’s just Eren with him and Levi is going way too fast. He’s going seventy over train tracks,” Armin explained.

“I’m going to kill that midget,” Mikasa declared quietly.

“Hanji’s going pretty nuts too. They’re taking this race too seriously.”

“Do you think you guys can beat them?” I called out, “We’re trying to beat Hanji just to shove it in their face.”

“Are you suggesting that _we_ race?” Connie asked.

I glanced at Marco who gave one short, determined nod. “Bring it on.”

Everyone in their car laughed loudly and I heard Sasha start calling out directions based on her own intuition. Aw damn they were lucky, screw wanting Historia in our car, we should’ve gotten Sasha.

“This is so dangerous oh My God,” Armin giggled.

I shrugged and sped up a little, “I guess that’s what makes it so fun.”

 

\--

 

“Uhhh Levi? Mikasa just disappeared.”

He glanced at me briefly, “What like she disappeared from the wheel?”

I shook my head and sat back down in my seat, “No I mean like they just took a wrong turn and I don’t know where they are.”

“Tch.”

I sat silently for a second, expecting him to do something, but he never did.

“Uh sir? Shouldn’t we go back and find them?”

“No. Chances are, they just joined the race and tried a shortcut.”

I turned to look back out the back window again as if they would suddenly reappear, “I don’t think they would do that…”

“I do.”

I huffed and returned to my seat, “How would you know?”

“Because I’m not stupid.” He suddenly made a really harsh turn and I was slammed against the car door.

“LEVI.”

“What.”

“YOU’RE GOING FAR TOO FAST TO DO THAT.”

He smirked and didn’t reply.

“You really are trying to kill me.”

Again, he didn’t reply.

Frustrated with not getting a reply, I decided to get my phone and pick a new song. Something that would annoy him. Obviously none of my road rage stuff because it was clearly going to his head.

“Hey plug my phone in and pick something from my music.”

I sighed and obeyed. I was just a second away from playing Barbie’s song.

“What’s your password?”

“Recon Corps.”

I scrunched my nose and typed the letters in, “What’s that?”

“I don’t know. I heard Erwin talking about it once and it sounded cool so.”

All of his music was classical stuff. I didn’t recognize much of it because all of it was French.

Choosing one at random seemed to be the best course of action.

Apparently I had chosen opera.

He nodded in approval of my selection and hummed peacefully with the tune. Which felt ironic considering his current driving pattern.

“What’s this song about?”

“The ocean.”

Huh. Well it was pretty so far. I leaned back and closed my eyes to listen to it. Buuuuut I was a bit jumpy because of how fast he was driving so closing my eyes made me nervous.

I opted to open them and talk to him again. “Do you know what she’s saying?”

“Yeah. She’s singing about the ocean,” he answered dryly.

I was about to ask him to translate the singing, but he suddenly leaned forward interrupted my thoughts, “Railroad coming up. How fast should I go this time?”

“Levi-”

“Oooh this one’s on a hill, how ‘bout that.”

“LEVI-“

“Since this one’s on a hill I’ll give you mercy and only go seventy-five.”

He sped up drastically and grinned mischievously then suddenly we were in the air. Like seriously, I’m pretty sure we were in the air flying for several seconds.

The car slammed back into the ground and I yelped as Levi stayed silent.

He kept driving at his previous speed, “Did you make that noise or did I run over a squirrel?”

I sent him a glare then looked away without responding.

He laughed and turned up his music then leaned back in his seat, “Almost there.”

I glanced behind us again to check for the others, “Do you think we beat them all?”

“I don’t think we can beat them with Sasha in their car.”

“Why not?”

He turned to me and stared blankly like I was an idiot, “Because she has ESP. She’ll give them directions to the fastest way possible.”

“Oh riggght.”

He rolled his eyes, “Yeah.” He leaned forward a little then swore under his breath, “They beat us.”

“What?!” I turned and looked out to the one car parked in front of the headquarters, “Who is that?”

“That’s the horse’s truck, isn’t it?”

“Did you just call Jean a horse.”

“Yes. Are you insinuating that you don’t?”

I grinned, “Not at all.”

Once he parked the car I opened the door, but as soon as I did he suddenly jerked the car back. I closed the door and stared at him with wide eyes as he proceeded to back up the car again and start to drive around the parking lot, “Are you kidding me.”

“Sorry I had to.” He headed back to a parking spot and I noticed Jean’s gang standing around the truck laughing at us.

He parked again, but watched me intently as I reached for the door. I hesitated with my hand on the handle because I wasn’t sure if he was going to drive again or if he just wanted to make me think he would.

His eyes flickered up from my hand to my eyes and I decided to open the door immediately. He had really pretty and intense eyes, not to mention he was gorgeous, so I didn’t want to have a staring contest.

As soon as I opened the door he backed up again. I grumbled and closed the door to shut out the sound of Jean’s laughter.

“Levi.”

He chuckled and suddenly turned. But then he kept turning. We were spinning in a circle oh my God what a child.

I couldn’t help but laugh though. It was kind of uncomfortable because the force was pushing me against the door but it was strangely entertaining so I couldn’t stop laughing. Even Levi couldn’t help it.

Eventually he came back to the parking spot and Marco pulled me out of the car before Levi had the chance to pull another stunt.

I clung to Marco’s shirt and stumbled to the group, honestly quite dizzy from the spinning, as Jean turned to us, “Man Armin was right. Levi _was_ trying to kill you.”

I released Marco from my grip and tried to calm my breathing, “He really was.”

“At least we made it in second,” Levi pointed out as he joined the group.

Petra pointed to our left, “Here comes third place.”

Their car rolled up next to our gathering and a certain big eyebrows blond rolled down his window, “We lost?”

We all snickered and Levi walked forward to lean on the cars window, “Might as well change your name from Er _win_ to Er _lose_.”

Hanji and Erwin both turned to Levi with matching beautifully tragic eyes that could melt your heart. Levi stared at them with an unamused expression.

After seeing that they weren’t getting anywhere with guilt tripping him, they dropped their sad act. “Better move before Hanji runs over your foot.”

He accepted their warning and stepped back to allow them to drive away.

Our pack migrated over to their car and they just added themselves to our group once they got out.

“So how did you enjoy your ride in the back of the truck?” Mike asked the four that had travelled with Jean.

“Jean tried to dump us,” Erd answered.

“It’s a pity he didn’t succeed,” Levi commented looking away.

Hanji finally came clambering out of their car and wrapped their arms around Levi’s shoulders, “Weeeeeeee looooooooooooooost.”

“I noticed.”

After getting no sympathy from Levi, Hanji came over to me and draped themselves over me instead, “Ereeeeen weeeee loooooooooooost.”

I chuckled and wrapped an arm around them to keep them from falling, “It’s okay Hanji, at least you gave it your best.”

They groaned and hid their face in my neck as the pretended to sob. I only patted their back and allowed them to grieve.

“Where do you think the other car is?” Erwin asked, completely unbothered by Hanji’s weeping

“You’d think they’d have gotten here sooner.”

“I think I see them.”

Sure enough, my car came rolling in with Armin and Mikasa in front. We all clapped and cheered as the parked and finally joined us. Good thing they got there because it was getting cold outside and Hanji was the only thing keeping me warm.

As they got closer though, we realized what took them so long; their arms were full of candy.

“You are literally the definition of brats,” Levi muttered with a wondrous look on his face.

“Connie saw that we’re gonna watch movies,” Sasha started breathlessly.

“So we got snacks,” Connie finished.

I tilted my head up look over Hanji who was still clinging to me. They had so much candy. So much.

“We just ate,” Jean gasped.

Sasha and Connie turned to him at the same time, “You can never have too much food.”

Erwin snatched a box of skittles from Sasha’s arms then started off towards the headquarters, “You sure about that?”

Connie and Sasha trailed after him as Sasha laughed, “I think you are well aware that we will never have enough food.”

I looked at Levi who was watching in their direction with a very confused face and I noticed Hanji stiffen up. That was a very weird encounter. Who would have thought Erwin, Connie and Sasha would be good friends. I didn’t think they knew each other.

Oh maybe that’s why they were pulled away when they first arrived? Because Hanji and Erwin recognized them?

I was about to ask Hanji about it when they suddenly gasped and pushed away from me, “They’re gonna get all the good candy!!”

Levi seemed to just brush the whole situation away so I decided to do the same. We followed them inside and oh wait Connie said we were going to watch a movie.

“Hey Levi?” I shuffled a little closer to him to get his attention which didn’t seem to work because he barely glanced at me.

“Hm.”

“What movie are we watching?”

He didn’t answer for a moment. Presumably because he was trying to decide if he should tell me or not. Eventually I guess he thought it wouldn’t matter, “Ghost Busters and Paranormal Activity.”

“Ah the ghost classics,” Jean joined in, “Who chose them?”

“Who do ya think?” Levi retorted as he opened the door then proceeded to not hold it open for anybody but himself.

Jean, feeling defeated by his failed attempt to socialize with his boss, grumbled and didn’t reply. Marco followed behind him and giggled quietly.

Armin came up beside me with Mikasa and smiled, “Hey! So how was the Carolina’s house today?”

I glanced around us nervously, “Armin if Hanji or Erwin hear you asking about it they’ll attack you, you saw what they did to Jean when he asked over dinner-”

They don’t want us talking about it tonight,” Mikasa warned.

He glanced behind himself quickly, “Well they’re not listening right now.”

Suddenly a hoard of skittles came raining down on his head as  Erwin and Hanji loomed over him.

He looked up fearfully and Erwin reached forward to scuffle his hair, “No business!”

Hanji then swooped Armin into their arms bridal style and ran away with Erwin jogging alongside and still dumping skittles all over Armin.

I turned to Mikasa who slowly shook her head.

Suddenly Levi came running by ranting furiously, “YOU BETTER CLEAN THAT UP OLD MAN.”

Petra, Gunter and Mike came to join us as we stood in place and listened to the showdown happening around the corner.

“I’m not cleaning it Levi, it isn’t my fault.”

“It most certainly is your fault.”

“I don’t want to clean it.” Holy hell how old _was_ this guy? He sounded like he was three years old.

“Erwin. Smith.” And since when was Levi his mommy.

“But Levi-”

“Erwin.”

“Erwin you are actually a child,” Hanji scolded.

“Erwin clean it up.”

“Isn’t this what I have an assistant for?”

Everyone collectively went ‘oooooooooooooooh’ at the same time. Mike sighed and left our small gathering to go clean. Poor guy.

I gave Mikasa a withering look then went after Mike to help him. It wasn’t fair that he’d clean it all up. And of course, Mikasa came after me because she was Mikasa and that’s how we worked.

I bent down beside Mike and reached for the broom he had suddenly gained possession of, “Here let me help.”

He began to hand it to me when a swift blow came to my head and I fell forward but thankfully Mikasa reached forward and pulled me back.

Levi glared at me and it was so terrifying I could see the murder radiating off of him, “Don’t clean that brat, let Erwin clean it.”

“But sir-”

His glare intensified and I dared not pursue any further protest. I reached a hand down to help Mike up and submissively stood behind Levi. That tiny man was so scary it was almost ironic.

“I’m not cleaning it Levi, now you’re just purposely trying to embarrass me in front of our employees.”

“Trust me, you don’t need help with that.”

Hanji sighed dramatically and put Armin down, “Ugh I’ll clean it up. Moblit come help me.”

Erwin reached a hand out and without any prompting, Sasha tossed him another box of skittles that he caught without looking. He opened it up and began eating candy as if he didn’t have a pile of skittles around the building to clean up, “You really don’t have to do that.”

Levi didn’t really seem to care about Hanji cleaning the skittles, which confused me, “Hanji, it’s Erwin’s responsibility.”

“And the both of you are my children, so Erwin is also my responsibility and I shall clean it for my baby.”

Erwin put a hand to his heart and reached the box down towards Hanji, “Awww. Would you like some?”

Hanji’s face lit up and they began to reach for some but the interaction was intercepted by a small man’s foot.

The box went flying into the air and more skittles went flying around in every direction.

There was a long moment of silence until Moblit let out a long groan and grabbed the broom, “What the actual fuck is wrong with you guys.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> nothing to say about that.  
> double chapter update since i'm late!
> 
> im really anxious about this update i feel like it sucks dick sorry guys


	11. Levi Has an Issue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Levi why you do this to yourself?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is all levis pov

 After disputing the skittle clean up situation, we settled down and began watching Paranormal Activity.

We chose that first just in case some people would actually get spooked so that way they could chill with Ghost Busters afterwards to calm them down.

As candy was passed around by the food duo, I wondered who would actually be scared of the movie.

A certain messy haired brat came to sit by my side followed by his loyal sister and I felt like my unspoken question had been answered. Eren. He’s who would be scared by it. He’s the kind of nerd that would act all tough and then get all scared and pretend he wasn’t scared. Not that I guaranteed he would do that, he just seemed like the type.

We had a sort of giant pillow pile going on, so unfortunately Eren was awfully close. He was going to be distracting me for the entirety of the movie, I already knew it.

Not even by bothering me or trying to talk, it would just be because he’s gorgeous.

We had all decided to hike it into Hanji’s office because their’s was the most spacious. Their office was similar to mine, just more sloppy.

The couch was occupied by Gunter, Erd and Oluo along with Petra who was sprawled across the three of them. Armin was pretending to not be poking through the books by him. Erwin and Hanji were pretending to not be suggesting books to him. I sat in front of a pillow fort that had been constructed by Hanji so I wouldn’t hurt my back because I refused to lay down on their nasty floor with Eren and Mikasa by me. Everyone else was just lying about. Sasha and Connie swapping candy together. Jean and Marco acting like a cute couple. Same for Ymir and Historia. Though in my opinion Ymir and Historia were cuter.

Nothing against Jean and Marco, I just liked those two better. Even cuter would be Eren and myself though.

Wait did I seriously just think that to myself. Oh my God.

“Levi?”

“What?”

Eren looked away awkwardly due to my fast and forceful response. Sorry dude. Don’t interrupt me when I’m in the middle of internal conflict.

“Are you okay?”

“…Shut up and watch the movie.”

He obeyed and turned the watch the cheesy and, frankly, dumb movie.

I noticed he leaned on Mikasa who instantly adjusted and just accepted him leaning there. How were we even related.

I rolled my eyes and got myself focused on the movie.

Which didn’t work out so I got myself focused on the M&M’s I had taken instead.

M&M’s were suspicious to me. They were far too good. And have you ever had mini M&M’s? I mean really had them? They were addicting ok, flat out addicting. Hanji had heard my many rants before about how I was sure mini M&M’s contained nicotine. It wasn’t possible for a candy to be so good without nicotine, it just wasn’t ok. Nothing could convince me otherwise. You could hand me some scientific tests or whatever proving that there is no nicotine content and I won’t believe you. Why should I believe you? Who are you to tell me there’s no nicotine in mini M&M’s.

The M&M’s were gone. I reached to my side the put them down and realized there was a heavy weight on my lap.

The fuck. There was a brat’s head on my lap.

Eren just lied there as if nothing was wrong. Who gave you the right-

I turned to my left, hoping that I could convince Mikasa to lull him away, but sadly she was gone. Further inspection found that she had gone to go sit with Armin who was not paying attention to the movie at all.

I couldn’t move him. It felt morally wrong to move him. It was like when a puppy falls asleep in your lap and you have to pee, but you know it’s technically illegal to get up so you don’t? It was exactly like that.

Oh no please don’t tell me he’ll fall asleep I couldn’t deal with that.

I heard a soft snicker and looked up to see Petra leaning over the side of the couch with a hand over her mouth as she tried to stifle her giggles. She was unsuccessful.

I gave her a pleading look which she only ignored.

Ugh. I would be stuck sitting in place for the next foreseeable future until he decided to get up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> everyone's close now yay  
> now that THAT's done, annie can make her entrance and we can get to dead friends


	12. I Didn't Tell Her My Name

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eren runs into trouble at work after talking to Mina and runs into an interesting blonde at the supermarket

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't ask me why this update is so long I don't have an answer

“Hey Eren, Mikasa, what are the Carolina’s like?”

Ymir had taken Petra’s previous seating in the van so she could sit by us.

“I didn’t really see much of them to be able to tell,” I admitted. I didn’t think Mina was really worth mentioning since her parents seemed to want to keep her out of it.

“They seem like okay people,” Mikasa answered.

Ymir nodded and leaned back a little, “Do you guys think there’s actually a spirit there?”

The car was quiet for a second as we waited for someone to answer. Levi eventually volunteered, “We have reason to believe it’s a possibility.

Ymir narrowed her eyes but said nothing. After a moment she turned to me questioningly as if to ask what I thought.

I chewed on my bottom lip and tried to watch for Levi’s and Erwin’s reactions in the corner of my eye, “Well…I also think it’s possible. Nothing really seems too strange, but they have been having problems for a while and some of the upstairs areas made me feel weird so…”

Erwin and Levi immediately turned to look at each other which made me regret what I had said.

Ymir looked satisfied with my answer and Petra leaned forward behind us to join in, “Ehh? What do you mean Eren?”

“You didn’t say anything before,” Oluo added.

I shrugged, “I just felt kind of sick up there. I didn’t think it was worth mentioning.”

Mike looked at me thoughtfully and frowned a little, “What rooms?”

“Uhhh mainly the attic and their daughter’s room.”

I glanced up and found Erwin staring me down in the rear view mirror.

“If you ever notice something like that again, let one of us know.”

I nodded and looked away quickly, “Yes sir.”

The van was quiet after that. It stayed that way until we arrived at the Carolina’s house.

Once in the house we split up again. Mike, Oluo and Petra stayed downstairs with the Carolina’s to interview them with a set of question that Erwin, Hanji and Armin had made, while the rest of us went upstairs to escort Ymir.

When we were out of earshot Ymir finally spoke up, “I saw nothing down there, just gonna say that now.”

Erwin’s attitude seemed to perk up after not being around the clients interestingly enough, “Did you feel anything though?”

She looked away and eyes the rooms around us, “Hrm…suspicious. I haven’t seen enough to tell if there’s actually something here or not since I was given opinions beforehand, but it doesn’t feel quite right.”

She turned to me, “What rooms did you say you felt weird in?”

I pointed upwards and then to our right, “The attic and the room at the end of the hall.”

Erwin reached up to pull down the door/stairs to the attic, “Well let’s go ahead and check up here then.”

Ymir follow him up, then Mikasa and Levi went next. Before going Levi nodded at me, “Stay down here just in case we have any messages to relay to the others downstairs and vice versa.”

I reluctantly agreed and watched them disappear into the attic.

Damn. Being an assistant really did suck. I should’ve asked for a different position because wow how boring.

I sighed and pulled out my phone to play angry birds. Armin had banned me from playing it since he said I got too mad whenever I played it but it was entertaining ok. Plus Armin wasn’t my mommy; he had no say in what I could and couldn’t do.

As I was intensely flinging birds across my phone screen I noticed something move in the corner of my eyes. I looked up immediately, prepared to fend for myself if someone was about to jump me when I realized it was a shadow under a door.

It looked like someone was walking across the room. Mina must have been home.

I glanced up at the attic and tried to determine if it was safe to abandon my post. They sounded pretty busy talking so I went ahead and softly knocked on Mina’s door.

There was silence for a moment and I wondered if I should walk away and pretend I didn’t know, but before I did the door opened.

Mina’s face was blank for a second then she shook her head a little and smiled, “Eren! What’s up?”

I took a slight step back, “Hey!  I just came to say hi, kinda bored.”

She nodded and looked up, “They’re exploring the attic, huh? Why aren’t you up there or downstairs with the others?”

She walked back into her room and gestured for me to follow, “I’m just an assistant so I don’t do much.”

She frowned and leaned on a dresser, “Really? I wouldn’t have thought that…”

I raised an eyebrow, slightly confused and tilted my head, “What kind of position would you have thought I’d be?”

“Quite honestly, a psychic investigator.”

I matched her frown, “Why would you think that?”

She stared at me for a minute, then looked down, then shook her head and looked back up at me again, “Just kind of thought so I guess. Sorry.”

She seemed kind of off today… “Hey, what’s wrong?”

She gave me a confused look as if I was asking for the first 100 digits of pi and blinked slowly, “I think you should go.”

I flinched a little and backed up, “I’m sorry, I just-”

She pointed at the ceiling, “They sound like they’re coming down.”

I shut up for a second to listen and surely enough footsteps sounded like they were heading for the ladder.

She shrugged and walked towards the door, “I should go too. I really shouldn't be here when you guys are investigating.”

I nodded and closed the door behind us, “Understandable.”

I turned around again to say bye but she was already gone and Mikasa’s foot was visible at the top of the stairs.

Damn Mina seemed like she either was scared of seeing us or she just didn’t like us. I was a bit worried that she didn’t like me though, that conversation was awkward.

When Levi got down he came over to me, “Did the others need anything?”

I shook my head, “No, sir. Didn’t hear anything from them.”

He nodded and stood by me as we waited for everyone to exit the attic.

Once Ymir was down I turned to her, “So how was the attic?”

She sighed and brushed some hair out of her face, “I didn’t see any spirits but there’s definitely something here.”

I looked up at all of them, suddenly worried, “What? Did something happen?”

Erwin started off towards the other end of the hall and everyone followed. Ymir stuck behind for a moment to answer me. She shook her head, “No. I can just feel something’s presence very strongly up there.”

Her grim expression made me kind of scared honestly. I walked beside her as we entered the other room, “Is it something bad? Is it like…a demon or…?”

“I don’t think so. I just don’t like whatever it is.”

I don’t know why, but that statement put a sinking feeling in my stomach.

She looked across the room, carefully inspecting it with her eyes with a neutral expression. We all watched her for a sign of anything.

Eventually she sighed and started to leave the room, “Nothing different from downstairs.”

Erwin nodded and looked to me, “What was the other room you said made you feel weird?”

“The one at the other end of the hall- ah Mina’s room.”

They all suddenly turned to me with confused expressions, “Who’s Mina?”

Okay so maybe it was really weird that I had talked to her after all sheesh. I shrugged, “Their daughter. I’ve run into her a couple times.”

“Her name isn’t Mina.”

I frowned and glanced at her room as if she would suddenly appear and fix the issue. I certainly hoped I hadn’t creeped her out and made her give me a fake name! I wasn’t that old and I was fairly attractive so I don’t know why she would be so weirded out by me. Maybe I had misheard her name.

Levi cast a quick glance at Erwin, “Isn’t she gone?”

Erwin narrowed his eyes at me and nodded slowly at Levi’s question, “She’s staying at a relative’s house while we’re investigating here.”

“Well maybe she’s left late and forgot something…” I tried. Mikasa slipped her hand into mine and I gratefully took it. I was beginning to feel cornered; it kind of looked like Erwin thought I was lying about everything.

He shook his head, “Mr. and Mrs. Carolina are dead set on keeping her out of this.”

Ymir clicked her tongue and leaned the closet door, “If we’re still going with the miscarriage lead it’d make sense that he saw the spirit in their daughter’s room.”

Whoa what. Erwin looked like he was about to add to that but I had to step in, “Whoa whoa, what? Where did that come from?”

Nobody seemed to have an answer so the question hung in the air for a while.

Eventually I went ahead and kept talking, “Mina isn’t a ghost, it must have been someone else then.”

“Please do explain who this Mina is then Eren.”

Mikasa’s grip on my hand tightened a bit and I racked my brain for an answer.

“Well…I don’t…wouldn’t I be able to tell if she was a spirit?”

They all stared at me for another moment before Erwin spoke up again, “Eren if you can get any further evidence or anything to support your case we’ll look into it, but for now we’re going to keep on our current lead.”

Before the tension could grow even more, Petra, Oluo and Mike came in. Petra’s eyes darted back and forth between each of us frantically, “What happened?”

Erwin gave a quick smile, “Don’t worry about it. What did you guys find out?”

Mike lifted up a notepad and nodded at it, “The miscarriage happened two years before their daughter Sarah was born.” I noticed Levi scooted a little closer to me when Mike declared their daughters name was ‘Sarah’. “They had it for six months before Mrs. Carolina actually came down with severe pneumonia and that’s how they lost it. It was supposed to be a girl. They were too scared to try for a child again after that until Sarah happened.”

“Mrs. Carolina had a lot of trouble discussing it. It was obvious, even outside of my abilities, that she’s still grieving over their lost child,” Petra started, “Mr. Carolina also is still upset about it but it also feels like he’s suspicious of us.” She looked up at Mike as if for reassurance that he agreed, “We assume it’s because we asked about the miscarriage and he thinks we may be scams playing on that emotion.”

Not completely a lie if I understood what Erwin first told us about the case.

Erwin nodded with a blank face but I knew under his plain expression he was thinking at a rate none of us could keep up with. “Levi, can you call Hanji and put it on speaker?”

Levi scoffed but pulled out his cell phone anyway, “Why don’t you do it?”

“Hanji doesn’t always answer me. They answer you. They would drop a baby to answer your phone call.”

“RAVIOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLLIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII~”

“Maybe take it off speaker.”

“We’ll be able to hear them without it.”

“Tsk. Four eyes quiet down.”

Hanji brought their voice down to a whisper after a stifled giggle, “Sorry.”

“Have you and Armin found more on miscarriage theories? Anything about spirits that continue to age?”

“Yeah we found quite a bit! Would you like me to give the lay down?” The sound of rustling started up and we could tell they were pulling out papers to prepare their schpiel.

“In a minute,” Erwin replied, “I’m gonna send this load back over there to get ready for the night, I think we’re gonna have a lock-in.”

Mikasa, Ymir and I looked at each other curiously but said nothing. I guess we were expected to spend the night there.

After that declaration we worked out a battle plan. Erwin and Mike would stay back at the Carolina’s house and talk with Hanji and the Carolina’s, then the rest of us would go back to the headquarters to get necessary equipment.

Mikasa and I were given the mission to go fetch food while they packed stuff up.

I know, it seems like Connie and Sasha would get that job, but think about it. Would sending Connie and _Sasha_ to get _food_ reeeeally be such a good idea? That’s what I thought.

Levi told us to just grab whatever seemed fit, as long as it wasn’t disgusting. He said snacks would be best since we’d be up all night. I noticed he seemed to really like M&M’s so I made a mental note to buy plenty of that.

I leaned my elbow against the window and glanced at Mikasa who was focused on driving, “How much do you think we need to get?”

“How much did they give us?”

“Too much.”

“Which is an amount of…”

I pulled the cash out of my hoodie’s  pocket and waved it in the air mockingly, “It’s a hundred dollar bill.”

She glanced at me as if confirming that is was a hundred dollar bill, “That’s quite a bit.”

I shrugged and shoved it in my pocket again, “How much do they even make? Do you know how much they’re charging the Carolina’s?”

She parked the car and pulled the keys out, “Probably more than a hundred.”

I rolled my eyes and followed her into the store. She nodded to the right to wordlessly tell me that’d we’d split up and grab whatever on opposite sides of the store.

I considered heading straight to the candy aisle, but then I remembered how much candy we had eaten the previous night and I decided against it. Maybe a tiny bit of candy, but it would have to stay hidden from the food duo.

Pretzels. Pretzels seemed safe.

And thus, I embarked on a two minute long journey to find pretzels. The pretzels happened to be in the candy aisle so I grabbed a couple boxes of M&M’s for Levi, skittles for Erwin and twizzlers for Hanji but that’s where I drew the line.

Yes I was shamelessly favoring my bosses lay off.

I was considering getting Armin and Mikasa candy too because I really liked them when I noticed a little girl to my left struggling to reach something. It was some kind of hello-kitty marshmallow thing.

I approached to help her and I realized how tiny children are. She didn’t even reach my hips wow how is that possible I thought Armin was short.

I squatted down and handed her the box. Surprisingly, she didn’t take it- she just stared at me.

Awkwardly. For a long time.

I mean I realized sometimes kids were bad with reacting to things like normal humans but it was really starting to creep me out. I smiled and tried to give it to her again but she just continued staring.

Part of me was scared that if I looked away or even blinked she’d turn into some monster.

Eventually, like five thousand years later, she turned around and just ran away. I stood up and sighed as I replaced the candy then scratched the back of my head. That was weird. Very weird.

“I’ve never seen someone offer candy to a spirit so openly in a public place.”

I frowned and whipped around to question whoever it was that spoke to me.

There was only one other person in the aisle.

She had pale blonde hair pulled into a lazy bun and wore a very bored expression. She seemed just a bit shorter than Armin, but her oversized white hoodie made her seem even smaller. She was eyeing some ring pops so I wasn’t completely sure she was talking to me.

“Excuse me?”

She turned to look at me and nodded in the direction the little girl ran in, “Kid was dead.”

If you ask me, she seemed more likely to be dead than the little girl. She had unrealistically bright piercing blue eyes and was incredibly pale on top of the fact she had light hair and all white clothing.

“Again, excuse me??”

“You were trying to give candy to a dead child,” she spoke slowly.

I frowned and glanced at the candy I had just put away, “How do you know she was dead?”

She walked forward until she was directly in front of me, almost chest to chest, and had to tilt her head up to see me then whispered, “I see dead people.”

It took me a second to digest that. And when I did, I wasn’t sure if it was safe to laugh, “Are you fucking me right now?”

She shrugged and backed up a little, “No. Give me your number and we can arrange it though.”

That told me it was safe to laugh. So I did. Very loudly. Until I was crying.

She smiled and reached forward to tug my phone out of my jean’s pocket. It seemed weird to let her do that but it felt… I don’t know familiar talking to her? Point is I had an unusual level of trust with her so I didn’t mind.

“What’s your password?”

I took a deep inhale and tried to calm myself, “Titans.”

She froze for a second then scoffed and typed it in. “You a football Tennessee fan then?”

I snorted, “I didn’t even know there was a team called that. But no, Titans as in the creatures.”

She froze again and looked up at me hesitantly, “Ever tried to kill a Titan?”

I gave her a weird look and tilted my head, “Tried to kill one? No, they aren’t real? Even if they were I doubt I could kill one.”

She looked back at my phone again but she seemed kind of sad by my reply. “Alright. Here,” she handed it back to me, “I sent myself a text so I’d get your number.”

I scrolled through my messages to find what text she sent and giggled, “Really?” The text read ‘aye hit me up’.

She smiled again and began to turn away, “Really. Anyway, I gotta go, text me.”

I grabbed her sleeve before she walked away, “Wait, were you serious about the seeing dead people thing?”

“Yes.”

“You should come check out the company I work for sometimes! It’s the Shiganshina Parapsychology Troupe, we’d love to talk to you about your experiences.” Whoa I sounded like a recruiter that had worked there for longer than a week.

She nodded and headed off again, “I’ll check it out, see ya Eren.”

I stared at her as she left and continued to stare in that direction even after she was gone.

I hadn’t said my name.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and so, the confusion with Mina has begun and the first of the titan trio has made their entrance.  
> im so sorry about the many typos that happened if you read this as soon as it came out   
> any theories about either issues troubling dear little Eren?


	13. It Was My Hand

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> be patient with this fanfic guys ok. we're still pretty early in this story and itll be a while before we understand anything 100%.  
> slow down before you assume things
> 
> this chapters pov is eren then levi

Staying the night would just be Levi, Mikasa, Mike, Moblit and myself.

Erwin would’ve stayed but he had to go home to watch Hanji since they couldn’t be left alone and they wouldn’t really have much to do in this case.

Obviously since having a bunch of people stay would be weird and uncalled for, they downsized it as much as possible; which resulted in only five of us.

We were stationed in the living room in different positions. There were three laptops for us to observe on; one had half of the camera’s view, the second had the other half, and the third had all of them just to be sure. The other two people who weren’t staring at cameras were to sleep so that if someone else got too tired they could just rotate. If someone was sleep deprived they could miss something important so we all had to be sharp.

Levi and I were the backups at the moment. We sat on a love seat across from Mike and Moblit who sat together on a couch and Mikasa sat in a rocking chair by them with her laptop on her lap.

They all looked pretty bored. I turned to glance at Levi to see if he was equally bored.

He had his arms crossed over his chest and his legs crossed too, and sure enough, he looked pretty damn bored.

He noticed me watching him and gave me a quick look before continuing to stare into the distance, “You should go ahead and get some sleep.”

I nodded and tried to relax, “Right.”

…

Okay but have you ever tried to sleep in some strangers’ living room while working in their house to find ghosts and you’re troubled by the possibility that the girl you’ve been talking to is actually dead as well as a little girl you just tried to give hello-kitty marshmallows to was dead but you met a hella cool chic so it worked out and wait

Where was I going with that.

I groaned and slumped over with my hands covering my face, “Aaaaagh how am I supposed to sleep?”

They all looked up at me, but nobody supplied an answer. Mikasa, Mike and Moblit could only spare a brief glance since they had to watch the cameras, but Levi stared at me for a while.

“Try closing your eyes and clearing your mind for a bit. It’s pretty quiet in here with them staring at cameras. If you wanna sing a lullaby they probably won’t notice with those headphones on.”

I chuckled and sat back, “Thanks, but no thanks.”

Mike snapped his fingers to get my attention then gestured for me to go to him.

I gave Levi a curious look to which he only shrugged. I stood up and shuffled across the room until I was in front of Mike. He kept his eyes glued on the screen and waved for me to come closer.

“What is it?”

He spread his legs and patted his lap. Are you kidding me.

“Mike…?”

After realizing that I was not sitting in his lap he decided to just grab my arm and pull me down.

“MIKE-”

He sshed me and patted my head. I knew he was trying to help me but. I just. What.

I gave Levi a pleading look but to my disappointment he turned away and pretended to not notice.

Mike leaned back into the couch which in turn caused me to fall back without his support.

I grumbled and reluctantly leaned my head on his shoulder. When I did, I could have sworn he sniffed me.

I tilted my head up to stare at him. “Did you just sniff me?”

He didn’t answer. He pretended he couldn’t hear me over his headphones- I knew he heard.

Strangely enough, it made me nostalgic. I was really confused as to why…but it reminded me of something…long ago. It was familiar. It sort of made my brain itch the same way it had when I met Mina.

It made it easier to fall asleep though.

(And that is the story of how I fell asleep sitting on Mike.)

 

\--

 

I woke up to a ball of paper hitting my face.

I immediately sat up and grabbed the ball, prepared to retaliate once I identified the guilty party.

It was Mike.

He jerked a thumb at Eren and waved me over. I figured he either wanted to rotate or his arm/leg had fallen asleep from Eren sitting on him for so long, but after staring for a moment I realized that wasn’t it.

Eren was mumbling something and digging his nails into Mike’s forearm. He was still asleep.

I sighed and crossed the room to assist Mike. I reached down to pull Eren’s hands away from Mike but they were anchored in there.

I looked over my shoulder at Mikasa. She pulled one part of her headphones off to listen in.

“Does he have sleeping problems?”

She shook her head and shifted a little, “Do you need help?”

I waved her off and turned back to Mike, “I got it.”

Eventually I was able to tug him away. I wrapped his legs around my waist and supported the rest of his weight easily- he didn’t weigh a lot for his height.

Before dropping him on the seat though I felt something wet drop on my shoulder. My first thought was that he was drooling and I was going to have to flip him over, then I realized it was tears. I froze for a second, considering my options, and then it hit me that he was awake and trying to hide that fact.

I changed my course to the bathroom. His arms tensed around my neck which only further confirmed that he was awake. He saw that I was taking him somewhere else and was nervous.

I closed the door with my foot then set him down on the counter and looked up into his watery pitiful eyes.

Strangely enough, part of my brain felt like I was babying him and sort of set off a red warning that I needed to be careful around the pretty boy, but another part was okay with it. It thought it was perfectly acceptable. And it knew what to do.

I could practically hear Hanji's laughter. "You? Comfort someone over something as trivial as a nightmare? Aha!"

I rested my hands on either side of him on the counter and leaned my head against his.

And we just sat there for a while until his breathing slowed down and turned into tiny hiccups.

I opened my eyes to find him staring at me.

I sighed and wiped a tear off of his cheek, “You okay there?”

He nodded solemnly and continued to stare directly at me.

Part of me was hit with the realization that I was currently centimeters away from my assistant and if anybody walked in they might think the wrong thing, as well as it would normally be awkward, but for some reason that other part of my brain just didn’t care again. And it seemed the same went for Eren.

Something about the situation seemed different. Yet I was oddly at peace with it.

“I had a bad dream,” he whispered.

I suddenly felt like I was going to puke.

“I was being brought…to some sort of…court trial…”

My finger twitched.

“I was accused of being some sort of….traitor. Some monster.”

He looked back up at me pleadingly as if I could stop him from remembering his nightmare.

“I was chained to some bar? Like they feared me.”

The room started spinning and somehow I knew it was about to be about me.

“And then you came in.”

His eyelids fluttered shut as if he was visualizing it in his head.

“You saved me in the most brutal way imaginable.”

The image of him with his hands chained to a metal bar suddenly came into my head.

The ground was stone. There was a crowd of people staring at him. They were standing behind bars and he was isolated in the middle of the room.

His face was bruised and he was bleeding. A hand was entwined in his hair yanking him harshly.

It was mine.

I took a step back from Eren to decrease my chances of puking on him.

“You beat me. Mercilessly. Relentlessly and mercilessly.”

He opened his eyes again to stare at me.

What tragic eyes they were. And what beautiful tears they shed.

He had started to get frantic again, “It was so horrible. I didn’t understand anything and you gave me no chance to even breathe but even so I knew it was necessary to keep me aliv-”

I reached forward to pat his cheek and successfully interrupt him, “Hey. It was a dream.”

He shifted in place and I knew whatever strange trance we were both in had snapped.

“Why don’t you take a minute to breathe then get back to work.”

He nodded and gave me a small, painfully fake, smile.

I left the bathroom and headed for the front door. When he gave me a weird look, I told Mike I just needed some fresh air.

So I sat on the porch and stared at nothing until I could gather my bearings.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> mike is cool ok.


	14. Suspicion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello! i have risen from the dead  
> i am not one hundred percent sure how the schedule is going to work from here  
> I am have not finished writing it all yet, like I had hoped and a lot of things have recently come up so I honestly don't know what my plan is.  
> for now I'll say I'll update once a week and write in this time so I will catch up at one point, and when I do I'll bump the updates to twice a week.  
> hopefully that won't be to far from now but we shall see!

I ran forward and tugged at Levi’s sleeve. We were on our way back to the van so we could head back to the headquarters and look over the footage from the night. We had gotten a few low key strange occurrences so we needed everyone else to take a look.

I, however, was distracted by the memory of my weird encounter with Levi overnight. I had a nightmare and cried on his shoulder I was like a five year old ugh.

“Levi?”

He stopped walking for a moment and turned to me. I glanced around to make sure nobody was listening in before speaking, “I’m sorry…”

He raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms, “What for?”

“For uhm…bothering you last night.”

He frowned and looked down for a moment, seemingly trying to decide what to say, then simply nodded and walked away.

Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuugh he totally thought I was a big baby oh my God.

I considered going after him again, but before I could make a decision he had already made it to the van where a few others were. I was destined to remain an idiot for all my years.

I sighed and shuffled my way to the van in defeat.  Focusing on work would distract me from my embarrassment. Even though there would be little work to do while sitting in a van. I could think about work instead yeah.

“Oi Eren! Get in the car, we’re leaving.”

I flinched at his tone but obeyed anyhow. The car ride back was quiet. Everyone was too tired to talk or just didn’t care to- it wasn’t a talkative bunch. I was probably the most talkative out everyone in the car and I wasn’t going to say anything and risk looking even more stupid to Levi.

Mikasa had stayed up all night without ever taking a nap or anything and somehow, she looked perfectly fine.  Still strikingly and threateningly gorgeous with a cold expression. She didn’t even have any bags under her eyes.

After a while though I was curious as to why she hadn’t noticed me openly staring at her for so long. I built up my courage and reached out to poke her arm.

She did nothing.

I brushed some hair out of her face so I could see her yet still got no reaction. She stared straight ahead and didn’t react at all.

“Holy shit she’s sleeping with her eyes open…”

Levi turned in his seat to look at us. He stared curiously at Mikasa and tilted his head. Then he flipping her off and waved his finger in her face.

I stared in horror. Obviously she was asleep or his finger would swiftly be bitten off. He had some nerve though. Oh my God that was so cool though if anyone else had done that they’d be dead.

Levi laughed and sat back in his seat, “Nobody tell her I did that.”

Mike, who was driving, tore his focus from the road to laugh for a brief moment and even Moblit who was lying down in the seat behind us snorted.

~~

After we arrived back at the base Hanji, Levi, Moblit, Erd and Gunter all got together to review the film and audio in Hanji’s office. I was excused to go catch up on sleep if I needed to or just visit everyone else.

Armin was buried in books and Mikasa had been enlisted to help Erwin and Mike with whatever business stuff they do so I went off to play with kitties.

Sawney and Bean were pretty easy to find and very welcoming of my cat treats. I ended up just sitting on the floor in the middle of the hallway petting cats. It may have looked sad but it was actually quite nice. Maybe I needed to ask Jean to come over and help me talk to them. Would he make me pay him for translation fees? I wonder…

I pulled out my phone to send him a text but then I remembered he’s an ass and I didn’t want to. I instead opened up my inbox and found two waiting messages.

From Levi, one minute ago, “Oi fetch us some coffee.”

And from Annie, ten minutes ago, “Yo.” Huh. The girl from the store- her name was Annie. I never caught her name (though somehow she caught mine), but I guess it was convenient she had made a contact for herself.

I sent a quick ‘what’s up’ to Annie then got up and dashed to the coffee machine.

How did they expect me to carry five mugs of coffee. I was only one person.

I looked down at the cats staring up at me and got a rather stupid idea.

Two minutes later Sawney and Bean were following me down the hallway each with a mug of coffee sitting on a tray tied to them.

Three mugs was a bit of a struggle for me but I didn’t want to give the cats any more work; I mean they were cats. How many mugs of coffee can a cat tug around?

I took a minute to go to Jean really quick and ask him about it.

“Hey Jean? Can you ask the cats something for me?”

He turned around in his chair with an exasperated expression and rested his chin on his hand, “Ugh, don’t be that friend Jaeger.”

“What do you mean.”

“The one that constantly asks me to talk to animals for them. It’s annoying.”

I flashed him a quick grin, “Don’t worry, I’m not your friend.”

He tried to cover his smile with a sigh but I knew he appreciated my humor.

“Fine, what is it?”

“Can you ask them if they mind carrying these mugs?”

“They’re already carrying them though. I would assume they don’t.” Instead of waiting for a response he went ahead and turned to the cats.

After a moment he looked but at me, “They’re fine with it. It’s a bit of a strain but they wanted to help you.”

“So do you think they like me?”

He rolled his eyes and turned back around in his chair, “Yes. You and your treats.”

I looked down at my furry friends fondly for a moment before starting back towards Hanji’s office.

“You look like a smug little girl,” Jean called out behind me.

I ignored him and continued my journey.

Hanji was delighted by the delivery and clapped excitedly. Levi raised an eyebrow at Bean who came to him with the coffee but Levi seemingly accepted the whole situation.

Moblit looked worn out so at first I thought Hanji must have been a little too energetic about their work, but when I noticed Erd and Gunter also looked tired I realised something was up.

I gave them all their coffees and sneaked a glance at the computers, “So did you guys find anything?”

They all sighed and shook their heads.

“Nothing,” Levi answered quietly, “Absolutely nothing.”

Hanji groaned and flopped on the ground to cuddle Sawney, “I’m so sick of thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis!”

I quirked an eyebrow but said nothing. They hadn’t been reviewing the evidence for very long…

“Maybe we should take a break,” Erd suggested.

Moblit grunted and put some headphones on his head again, “We’re almost done, let’s just finish.”

Levi looked up at me calmly, “What have you been up to for the past few hours?”

“Hours?!” I exclaimed.

He tilted his head and frowned, “Yes, hours.”

“How long have I been playing with those cats,” I whispered in horror. I thought it had only been half an hour!!

Hanji giggled below me and Levi smirked, “You’ve been with the cats the whole time?”

I nodded slowly and stared at the cats. They must have used some cat magic on me.

Erd swatted his hand at us, “Hey the temp goes down in the attic at about 3 am.”

Hanji,  Levi and I moved over to look at the screen he gestured too. Gunter and Moblit glanced over at us but they were listening to audio and didn’t want to tear their focus away.

“By how much?” Hanji questioned.

“Seven degrees.”

Hanji hummed thoughtfully and moved to a different laptop to watch the footage from the night vision camera at the same time.

Without warning, Gunter suddenly stood up and hurried out of the room with his laptop in one hand and his other hand holding his headphones to his head.

We all turned to look after him in confusion.

Levi frowned and shrugged at us, “Maybe he had to take a shit.”

“With his laptop?” I asked.

“He didn’t want to miss anything.”

“He looked scared.”

“Hey taking a dump while listening for spooky ghost voices is a dangerous task. Or he was constipated.”

We stared at him as he took a sip of his coffee then turned back to his own laptop, “Or both.”

The opened and Sasha fell through it with wide eyes, “Where’s Gunter?”

Levi looked up and narrowed his eyes at her, “He ran out a moment ago.”

She nodded and ran away.

I smirked and placed my hand on Levi’s shoulder, “Maybe she needed to take a dump with him.”

He ignored my comment and got up, “Let’s go see what’s up. Maybe he found some big evidence.”

We all hesitantly followed, “But he didn’t show it to us?”

Levi didn’t answer.

Hanji, who had been standing at the back of the group frowning, suddenly perked up and ran ahead of us.

For some reason, this made agitated Levi. I mean more than it should have.

He immediately took off after Hanji, which in turn made us run after him.

A few people turn their heads and gave us questioning looks but Petra was the only one to get up and follow us.

“What’s wrong?” She frowned.

“I don’t even know.”

When we caught up to Levi, he was angrily trying to open Erwin’s door.

“It’s locked,” he growled.

Petra gently placed her hand on his arm and looked at him with her big hazel eyes full of concern, “What’s happening in there?”

He stayed silent for a moment. His jaw clenched and as he stared at Erwin’s door as if trying to see through it.

“They’re hiding something. I don’t know what it is with them lately but they’re hiding something major.”

I felt a little sick honestly. I had no idea what was happening, but Levi freaking out made me worried. They had been acting weird. I didn’t even know them and I knew it was weird.

Connie and Sasha were weird when they first arrived. Erwin and Hanji were weird when they arrived. At the moment, Sasha, Gunter, Erwin and Hanji were in that room. As far as I knew Connie could have been in there with them.

I was getting a little angry the more I thought about it. What were they hiding?

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hmhmhmhmhm  
> what do you think Gunter came across?


	15. A Seemingly Piss-Poor Idea

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> all levi's pov

When the door was finally opened I ran in and practically slammed into Erwin’s desk.

“What the fuck is going on here, Smith?!”

He raised his eyebrows in surprise. I only called him ‘Smith’ when I was pissed and he knew right away that I damn well was.

“Gunter found some alarming evidence is all.” He gestured for me to come forward and listen to it myself.

I knew he was still hiding something but I was curious to hear the EVP nonetheless.

After crossing the room to stand beside his chair behind his desk, I put the headphones on and waited.

He hit play and put a hand on my lower back. The others may have seen it as a gesture to calm me down, or even as a romantic touch to suggest we were together, but I saw it for what it was; it was a warning. If I wanted to make a scene I would have to late until we were in private.

I sighed and obeyed.

The recording was quiet for a few seconds. Besides some normal background noise there was nothing for a moment, until  a clear voice spoke out one word.

Or rather one name.

“Eren.”

I immediately looked up at Erwin but he held up a hand as if to tell me to keep listening.

A few seconds later the voice spoke again.

“I hope we won.”

It was very quiet. I almost questioned how Gunter caught it in the first place.

I frowned and Erwin leaned over to pause the audio. I slipped the headphones off and turned to Eren.

I eyed him suspiciously hoping that he might suddenly confess he knew the mystery behind this case. He fidgeted under my gaze but not out of a nervousness I had partially hoped to invoke- I was scaring him. He genuinely had no idea what was happening.

“Eren. What exactly did you and that girl talk about?”

His eyes widened a little, “‘That girl’...? Mina?”

I nodded and waited for him to go on.

“We don’t really talk about much. I’ve only actually spoken with her twice and both times she left pretty quickly.”

Erwin joined in, “Why did she leave?”

The addition of Erwin seemed to make Eren even more scared.

“Uhm the first time she didn’t say. The second time she just said she shouldn’t be there while we were investigating.”

I turned to Erwin and he turned to me. We didn’t need to speak to talk to each other, we were thinking the same things.

Eren had no clue what was going on. He was obviously developing new abilities that he was either denying or just wasn’t catching onto it.

He seemed to have a connection with this spirit ‘Mina’. Point one being that he strongly believed she’s alive and point two being that she seemed to be intelligent enough to fully comprehend what was happening.

She remembered who he was, held conversations with him (even if they were short lived) and tried to hide while we were present.

My biggest question was why she made herself known to Eren and what exactly she hoped they had won.

“What...what’s on there?” Eren finally spoke up.

I waved him over and had him listen to the audio. Once it was over he took the headphones off and stared at the screen.

“Hope we won what…?”

I glanced at Erwin and found  him watching Eren intently with a sad expression. I remembered his strange behavior lately and quickly turned to look at Hanji too. They were staring at the floor with an unreadable expression.

I checked the other two in the room and found them both with frowns. Gunter was looking out the window with a frown and Sasha was staring at the floor with a troubled look.

Why did the room suddenly feel overwhelmingly depressing?

“Do you recognize that voice, Eren?” Erwin asked gently.

He nodded sadly, “It’s Mina.” He looked up at Erwin, “You guys were right. She’s dead.”

Erwin put a hand on his shoulder and nodded, “She seems to be fond of you though. You can help her move on.”

“I don’t know how to do that, have Ymir do it…”

Erwin shook his head, “No. The spirit purposely hid when Ymir was present, she’s only shown herself to you.”

Eren pulled away from Erwin bitterly and bumped into me. I reached out to put my hands on his sides to keep him from falling but he moved away from me too.

“I’m not going back to help her when I don’t even know how.”

He began walking to the door but Hanji grabbed him and stood up to look him in the eye. They grabbed his face and pulled him close, “Eren, you can help her if you try.”

He tried to step away from Hanji but failed, “I’m not gonna be a part of your _experiment_ Hanji-”

“Parents.”

Eren paused, “Parents?”

“You didn’t have any, she didn’t get the opportunity to have them. Use that as a connection,” they pulled away and poked his chest, “You wanna know how to help her? Use that.”

He frowned but didn’t make a move to leave. “I don’t…”

“Eren, she’s not going to open up to any of us. It’s not like you’re alone in this. Ymir can help you, and Levi can as well, it’s just that we’re gonna need to use you to get to her.”

He looked up at me for my opinion and I gave him a nod.

With my permission he seemed to feel better about accepting it.

Sasha stepped forward and gave him a cheery smile, “You’ll do fine Eren. “

He nodded despite his obviously doubtful thoughts.

Erwin stroked his chin thoughtfully, “Let’s have a seance.”

Sasha suddenly walked to the door and opened it, revealing a group of people standing in the doorway.

Does everyone have to eavesdrop.

Ymir casually strolled in and grabbed Eren by the shoulders, “If I may, that’s a piss poor idea.”

Erwin raised his eyebrows but stayed quiet to listen to her explanation that came through Armin.

Armin stepped into the room and joined Ymir in the holding-Eren-possessively contest, “He can’t be ready for something like that if he can’t even tell a spirit from a normal person.”

“Well he’d have Ymir, Levi and Mikasa to be there for him,” Erwin reasoned.

“How about we just have Ymir do it for now and the other three will be on standby,” Hanji argued.

Erwin narrowed his eyes a tiny bit but I knew he would admit defeat. “Alright. Hopefully Eren’s presence will draw her out. In the mean time, Hanji I need you and Armin to grab Petra so we can go over information you’ve found.”

Hanji saluted and walked out with Armin trailing behind.

Sasha gave a little bow and excused herself which left Erwin, Eren, Gunter and myself.

Gunter sighed and headed towards the door, “Well I guess we can go back to overlooking this stuff.”

I nodded at him and waved off Eren to go with him so I could talk to Erwin. I sat down on his desk as they left and frowned at Erwin, “Are you planning something evil behind those luscious eyebrows?”

I smirked and sat forward to lean on his desk, “Perhaps.”

“I don’t see what there is to it though. You want to make Eren communicate with the spirit to solve the case, that’s mean considering we’ve only just gotten him to realize he has such abilities...so what much evil left is there? Once the spirit moves on we’re done with the case.”

He simply shook his head in reply.

“What?”

“It’s not that transparent this time, Levi.”

He wasn’t going to tell me and that ticked me off. I got up and started towards the door to join the others.

“Don’t ask too much of Eren. Unless you want him to tell us about the personalities of someone then don’t make him do anything. Kid didn’t even know the spirit was dead.”

Erwin didn’t shake his head that time. He simply watched me in amusement.

I didn’t like that.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> rawr


	16. The Seance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i almost forgot to update today, i was out filming for my film class
> 
> anyhoodle this chapter is all Levi's pov

Ymir reached out a hand to Mrs.Carolina. Mrs. Carolina’s eyes widened in fear but she took it anyway. Ymir didn’t make much show of it, but I could tell she was laughing on the inside.

Mr. Carolina refused to be a part of the seance so sitting at the table with Ymir was Mrs. Carolina, Mikasa, Eren and myself. Mike, Erwin and Petra were standing behind us just overlooking the procedure.

Eren had told me he was fully willing to communicate with Mina if need be. After the initial shock of learning his ‘friend’ was dead, he got his head back in the game. He actually asked if I could give any tips should he need to help Mina move on should he need to.

I personally didn’t know if there would be much he would have to do. It was the spirit of a miscarried child… I’d never dealt with that. Most of its pain would stem from not having a chance at life or watching the Carolina’s living daughter live hers. It seemed simple enough, but Erwin’s all-knowing comments earlier made me suspicious of the whole situation.

I noticed Mike and Erwin keeping a close eye on Mr. Carolina though.

Perhaps the father had something to do with the miscarriage? Maybe he never wanted that child in the first place and they found that out from...something?

Ymir had closed her eyes and was calling out for the spirit. Personally I didn’t know if it would work so well. Ymir didn’t have an approachable personality- at least not to a seemingly scared girl.

Mrs. Carolina still seemed scared by the situation. She was glancing around the room fearfully as if the spirit of her dead child would jump out of a shadow and attack her.

Mr. Carolina was watching Ymir. I wasn’t Petra, but I had the feeling he still mistook us for scams.

Well he wasn’t wrong technically.

Eren was looking around curiously. He was probably looking for ‘Mina’, but I wondered if she knew after speaking his name while we were recording that he would realise she was dead. She might not show herself to him anymore.

Or she did it on purpose.

I shook my head and brought my focus back to the seance. I’d leave the theorizing to Erwin, though it seemed like he already had it all solved.

Ymir opened her eyes and sighed, “Guys, seriously she’s hiding from us.”

Mrs. Carolina broke her hands from our circle and suddenly the fear in her eyes turned into sadness, “It’s a girl?”

Erwin gave her a solemn nod but none of us had the courage to speak.

“Can’t we try again? I want to speak to her if I can- I….” she broke and looked at us each pleadingly.

Eren gave me a hesitant look and I immediately knew what he was thinking. I cleared my throat and turned to Mrs.Carolina, “If you’d like, Eren is willing to try to reach her. He’s communicated with her twice before.”

Her head snapped up to look at Eren and even Mr. Carolina suddenly joined the conversation, “That’s funny. You never mentioned it before.”

Erwin came in to shut down Mr. Carolina’s rudeness, “He was having issues with his own abilities at the time. It was only recently confirmed after looking over EVPs.”

Mrs. Carolina took Eren’s hand, “Have you seen her?”

“Yes.”

“What does she look like? Is she- does she look like an infant?”

He answered her with surprising ease, “No, she looks like her age would be if she had lived. She has long dark hair and she’s about my height...she resembles your husband greatly.”

“Is she mad at me?”

“I don’t think so...I would need to ask her.”

That seemed to remind Mrs. Carolina of the task at hand. She nodded and let Eren get to it.

Kid had no idea what to do.

He looked at me suddenly concerned but what was I supposed to say? I simply gave him a small nod and hoped he would figure it out; in all honesty, he had to learn it for himself. The spirit already knew him, hopefully it wouldn’t be hard. Wow this was such a bad idea why did we think sticking a noob in such a situation was good.

After Eren closed his eyes I turned to Erwin and gave him a doubtful look. He simply shook his head then nodded at Eren.

A minute later his eyes popped open and he turned to Mr. Carolina, “She won’t speak with me directly but I’m getting a lot of hostility towards you, Mr. Carolina.”

He scoffed but Mike pushed him towards the table, “Maybe you should join them at the table now?”

Mr. Carolina pulled away from Mike and sneered at him, “As if. That kid’s just pointing me out because you all know I’m not buying into this crap, I think we’re done here.”

There was a loud bang upstairs.

We all sat still and suddenly Eren was fidgeting.

He blinked several times, looked down as if he was trying to understand something, then frowned and looked back up at Mr. Carolina, “What did you do to her?”

Mrs. Carolina tugged at Eren’s hand, “What is she saying?”

Eren pulled his hand away from hers and Mikasa’s then stood up, “She’s not saying….anything, she’s showing me memories…?”

Something was up. The fact that Erwin seemed completely at ease concerned me.

Mr. Carolina looked insulted. “I didn’t do anything to it! It died before it was birthed!”

“It’s not your child.”

Oh shit.

Shit was about to go down, Mrs. Carolina didn’t seem like the type to cheat but-

Eren shook his head, I couldn’t tell if he was just agreeing with himself or if it was a lame attempt to clear his head. “Mina wait…”

Mr. Carolina’s angry attitude faded all at once, “Mina?”

Mrs. Carolina frowned, “Your sister?”

A look of pure anger passed over Eren’s face. He suddenly bolted upstairs. We would have left him alone if not for the banging that accompanied it. I wasn’t sure if it was Mina’s doing or if Eren was just very upset.

Mikasa followed him immediately as the rest of us stood in confusion. Erwin suddenly tensed up and urged me forward, “Stop him quick.”

I had no clue what was happening but I ran after them anyway.

On the way up I tried to process the newest information.

The spirit wasn’t their lost child, it was in fact Mr. Carolina’s sister and apparently he had done something to her.

My first guess, as you can imagine, was murder, obviously since the chick was dead.

Where was Eren running to and why did he need to be stopped?

I could hear everyone following but for some reason Erwin needed someone strong and fast enough to stop and restrain Eren. Ugh why?? Why can’t that blond just explain stuff and not leave me hanging.

When I got upstairs I could hear Mikasa shouting Eren’s name and then there was a thud. It was coming from the attic.

I got up as quickly as I could and found Mikasa struggling to hold Eren back as he pounded and kicked at the wall.

I knew immediately by the intensity of his hits that there was something important behind that wall.

There was a body hiding back there.

I’ll admit, I hesitated for a second. If Eren was going to uncover the body, what was the problem? We could throw that asshat in prison- I mean seriously, it was looking an awful lot like he killed his sister and stuffed her in the attic.

Then Mikasa’s presence gave me the answer; she was worried he would hurt himself.

The kid was ramming his bare fists into the wall and was actually starting to tear it down- as well as the only protection his feet had were his shoes (which I doubted were steel toed).

I ran forward to grab him but the wall had started collapsing and he dove into it; I couldn’t see him through the dust and what-have-you.

As soon as that wall fell, the air around us felt immensely lighter.


	17. This Case is Over

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i have not  
> written a word for this for almost 2 weeks i think  
> orz  
> i want to finish it already so i can start updating more often and show you guys everything that happeeeeens
> 
> levi's pov then erens!

Inside the wall was sort of a small tunnel. Mikasa stood at the hole waiting to help but she knew that I was smaller as well as it would be harder to get out if there was too many people inside there.

I struggled to crawl through, but it wasn’t long before I bumped into Eren.

He was casually sitting on his butt as if he wasn’t staring at a skeleton inside the wall of the attic.

I grabbed his shoulder and pulled him backwards, “Kid, let’s get out of here. Erwin will call the cops and get this cleared up. She’ll be at peace.”

He nodded glumly and allowed me to help him out. Mikasa pulled him out and reached out a hand for me.

Petra immediately came forward and began to dust off Eren and tend to his bloody knuckles as I turned my attention to Mr. Carolina.

He was staring at the hole in the wall.

“Was she…”

Erwin came forward and patted his back, “I think you should call the cops and we can get this organized.”

Ymir was the last to climb into the attic, but she was right on track. “Shouldn’t we be calling the cops about him?”

“It wasn’t him,” Eren quickly interrupted.

We all turned to him and waited for him to continue.

“It was their father. He told you that your mother left one day and took your sister with...you mother left, but your sister was always here…”

“But…” Mr. Carolina looked completely lost.

His wife touched him arm gently and asked the question for him, “Why was she mad at him?”

“Because you didn’t believe that she would be there. And that you never found her.”

Eren looked up, though not at anyone in particular.

“She was lonely.”

He looked sick. He looked like he was going to topple over if he made another move.

“Levi, take everyone back. Mike and I will stay here and get everything worked out.”

 

\--

 

I opened my eyes when I felt a sudden pain in my hand.

I jumped and instinctively jerked my leg out to kick whoever had hurt me, which was apparently the wrong move.

Not because they attacked me for kicking them, but because when my foot made contact with their arm it hurt like a bitch.

“ _SHIT_.”

Levi was the one sitting in front of me. He had one arm holding my elbow and the other holding my hand.

He removed his hand from under my elbow and gently grabbed my foot, “On a scale of one to ten how much did that hurt?”

“What are you doing.”

“Seriously, how much did that hurt? You might need to go to the hospital.”

“Oh right I jammed my foot into the wall.”

He went quiet, which I was thankful for. I needed a moment to think.

I remembered the seance and finding Mina’s body.

Ah what was I thinking? I was just so pissed that she had been stuffed into the attic that I ran up there to immediately get her out, I should’ve at least grabbed something to break the wall with, not just use my hands.

Levi had brought his gaze down to my hand and was gently rubbing it. I guess earlier he was checking for broken bones and the pain woke me up.

His expression made me nervous though. I’d never seen him look so...so tenderly concerned.

I felt a blush crawling onto my face so I went back to thinking about what happened.

When I actually got inside the wall, what I saw was Mina- not her skeleton. I didn’t see a skeleton until Levi came up behind me.

She smiled and said thank you. Then before disappearing, she said something about a second chance…

“Sorry, did that hurt?”

I blinked and looked down at Levi, “Huh?”

“You were frowning.”

Oh.

“No, it’s fine. I was remembering…”

He quirked an eyebrow and waited for me to finish.

“Mina...before she moved on, she said something weird.”

“Something weird.”

“She said… ‘I lost my second chance...don’t lose yours’.”

He frowned and said nothing.

He held my index finger on my right hand and slowly pushed it upwards, “Does that hurt?”

I flinched and nodded, “Yes.”

He continued this with each finger on my hands then stood up and pointed at my feet, “Try rolling it to the side and stop when it hurts to much...turn it the other way…” He looked up at me thoughtfully, “Were you able to walk on them okay earlier?”

“I don’t remember,” I admitted.

He nodded and motioned for me to stand. It was then that I actually realised I was sitting on his couch in his office.

Hanji and Moblit entered with a first aid kit as I tried to get up off the couch.

“Hey Raviolli, is he- Oh! Eren! How are ya feeling?”

“We’re seeing if he can walk,” Levi answered.

They squealed then opened up their arms for me.

“Hanji, these aren’t my first baby steps,” I sighed.

They laughed but kept their arms open.

I reluctantly stood up and walked towards them for a hug.

“Awww there you go, not so bad huh?”

“It hurts, but it’s nothing I can’t manage.”

“That’s good. How about your hands?”

Levi came to my side and took one of my hands as if to inspect them again, “I think he probably fractured them at worst. The bleeding has stopped though.”

“I should be fine. I usually heal pretty fast.”

Hanji looked at my hands pitifully, “Hm okay. Just take it easy for a while then. Want me to bandage it up at least? Maybe take a little pressure off of it?”

I shrugged and allowed them and Moblit to take care of my hands for a moment. When they were done Hanji gave me another hug before heading out.

“Catch him up on what happened, Levi. He didn’t look quite awake when you guys brought him back.”

He nodded then led me back to the couch.

“Do you remember everything that happened?”

“Not really.”

“Okay well, you found the body, I know you remember that. Erwin and Mike are still there working things out with the police, they said they’ll be back soon. The police might want to speak with you, but Erwin will probably get you out of it...The Carolina’s have requested you attend Mina’s funeral.”

“What?”

“That’s just what Erwin told us. I bet they were thankful you found her.”

I nodded and looked down. How odd. Should I go? I’d feel out of place, I didn’t really know her.

“Eren? What happened from the seance up to where you can remember.”

“Uh...okay. So once I started trying to get to Mina, she wouldn’t say anything. Or rather, she was already there and watching us in a way? She didn’t want to say anything directly.” Everything started coming back as I tried to remember it all, “So she showed me Mr. Carolina in her eyes...and I just felt mad- but I knew it was her feeling that. And then I saw her when she was younger, with Mr. Carolina as a child. And then she was older and I saw a man over her…”

Levi frowned and held up a hand to pause me, “Are you saying she was raped?”

“No…” I remembered the man holding down her hand, and in her hand was a lamp.  In his other hand was booze. It spilled on her. “He might have tried to? He was drunk and she was fighting him, that’s all I know for sure.” My mouth went dry as I remembered seeing from her point of view being stuffed into the attic.

“Oh God...she was still alive when he put her in the attic, I didn’t catch that earlier-”

“What do you mean?”

“I didn’t...I saw it earlier but I thought she was already dead. All of her memories from after her death looked different. Like she saw her body from a different perspective, but when she was alive I saw from her body’s eyes and when she was being put up there-”

He patted my shoulder to stop me, “Hey, it’s okay. Keep going.”

I sighed and looked down at my thumbs, “Okay...it was about then when I ran upstairs. I broke down part of the wall...I found Mina. She was waiting. She said thank you, and then what I told you earlier.” I frowned and looked back at him, “What did that mean? ‘Don’t lose yours’? And the other time, on the audio, ‘I hope we won?.”

He looked away and thought to himself for a while.

“I don’t know.”

He stood up and ruffled my hair, “Let’s keep that between us for now, ok? Don’t tell the others she said that.”

I didn’t really understand why, but I agreed to it anyhow.

He crossed the room to his desk and stroked Bean who had been calmly sitting on his desk watching us, “Why don’t you go home with your friends today.”

I sat up a little and tilted my head, “You sure you don’t need me here?”

“Yeah, you need rest. This case is over.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so im not saaaaaaaaaaaaaying what's happening next chapter but theres a certain blonde with a bun that comes in again next chapter just saying


	18. Officially Joined the Medium Society

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> what nerds
> 
> all erens pov

The next day I woke up to a text saying I had the day and the rest of the weekend off. Or rather, I was banned from coming to work for the whole time.

Mikasa and Armin left a note on the kitchen counter that stated the same thing.

I would have gone back to bed, but my feet were sore. Not hurting like they were yesterday after beating a wall, it was more like a sore that felt like it would disappear after walking around or exercising a little. I guess I just kinda felt antsy.

Oh, also on my phone was an abandoned text message from Annie.

“Nothing much. You?”

Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeey maybe she wanted to hang out. If she didn’t think I was rude for not answering for so long.

“hey sorry for not answering! i got caught up with work. you free to hang out today?”

I made some toast and went to the couch to watch tv as I ate because sitting at the table by myself would be too lonely. At least with a tv it wouldn’t seem as lonely.

“Sure. Meetup at the park on the corner by Weston?”

“ok be there in a bit”

“Mk.”

“oh wait what are we gonna do”

“Idk.”

It occurred to me that making very loose plans with a person I didn’t really know may not be such a good idea, but it felt so familiar. Like it wasn’t a big deal at all, Annie and I had totally hung out together a million times before.

After finishing up an enthralling episode of SpongeBob I went out.

Annie didn’t strike me as the prissy type so I simply headed out in a hoodie and jeans.

But if she showed up looking nice I was going to head home and change.

Or not. I kind of forgot Armin and Mikasa took the car. They probably didn’t think I’d need to go out at all. I guess I’d just never tell them I went out with Annie.

The park was only a block away I really didn’t care.

Once I arrived at the park it was fairly easy to spot her. She looked like a random snowball in the summer time. Even her car was white.

I came up to her car window and tapped on it to get her attention since I could hear her music from outside the car.

She rolled the window down and stared at me blankly, “Did you walk here?”

“Yeah. My friends took the car to work and I live close anyway.”

She nodded and jerked her thumb at the passenger seat, “Get in loser, we’re going shopping.”

I laughed and got in the car.

“Is quoting movies your hobby or something?”

She shrugged and backed the car out of the playground's parking lot, “You could say that.”

“So should we go see a movie?”

“Psh. Are we on a date Jaeger?”

Her saying my name suddenly reminded me of my burning question.

“OH! HEEEEEeeeeey how did you know my name the other day?!”

She didn’t answer for a minute. Quite honestly, it looked like she was grimacing.

“It was on your phone.”

“Oh.”

I guess that was plausible.

I was still a bit curious though, that didn’t seem like the truth.

“Do you actually wanna go shopping.”

“Sure.”

“Please tell me you brought your wallet though.”

I rolled my eyes, “No. I was just going to let a friend who I’ve known for like a day pay for me if we did anything.”

She didn’t say anything for a moment.

I kind of assumed something I said might of upset her so I turned the music up instead.

“Is this English? I can’t tell if it’s just really intense screamo or if it’s actually a different language.”

“It’s German.”

“Ahh, you speak German?”

“No.”

I snickered and changed the song.

She glanced at me with a terribly hurt expression, “Excuse you, do you have a problem with my foreign rock music?”

After flipping through the stations I finally landed on a suitably annoying pop song and sat back in the seat, “Ahhhhhhhh.”

“Hah- no,” she immediately turned the music off altogether.

“I can sing for you instead if you’d rather.”

She smirked and kept her eyes glued to the road, “No, thank you.”

We sat in a peaceful silence for a while until we reached a stop light and she glanced at me.

“What happened to your hands?”

I held my hands out in front of us and hummed thoughtfully, “Work.”

“I thought you said you worked for SPT.”

“Mhmm.”

“Well-...fine, ok then.”

“I’ll tell you about it later.”

“I’ll hold you to that.”

“Ok.”

We fell into another silence until she pulled into a mall’s parking lot.

“How do you feel about cross dressing.”

I was suddenly concerned that Annie was actually a guy dressing like a girl and was about to come out about it.

“Oh uhm, it’s fine. I’ve no problem with it. At all. Really.”

“Cool.”

She said nothing else about it. Maybe my answer was too weird and she chickened out.

We entered the mall and she immediately set off on an unknown path, “C’mon I got a store I wanna check out.”

I shrugged and followed her without protest. I didn’t really have anything in particular that I wanted to do, I just wanted to do something.

She walked into a store. A giant dress store.

“Uhhh do you have an event-”

“There’s some nice stuff in the back.”

“Oh ok.”

Again, I followed without protest sort of like a little puppy. I don’t know she seemed to know what she was doing; I saw no reason not to just follow her.

She approached a nice long teal dress and looked at me for my opinion.

“It’s uh...pretty? I don’t know much about dresses. It looks a bit long for you  though, you might need to have it gathered.”

“Oh I’m not buying it. Or wearing it.” She grabbed the hanger and held it up in front of me, “Here. The dressing room’s over there.”

“What? No!”

“I thought you had no problem with cross dressing?”

“Well I don’t, I-”

She raised an eyebrow and dropped the dress but she knew that I’d hurry to catch it, “You what?”

“I thought you were going to tell me secrets about your history in cross dressing…”

“My history in cross dressing,” she repeated slowly.

“I thought you were going to tell me you’re really a crossdresser.”

Her laughter sounded like glitter. Don’t ask me how, it just did. It was a kind of laugh that made me sad for some reason. It was as if I needed to make her laugh again because I was afraid I would never get the chance to hear it again.

“I’m female through and through, and comfortable with it. I just want to play dress up for once.”

I inspected the dress and I’m sad to say I was actually considering it.

“Why not play with your girl friends?”

“Please. One, I have a reputation to keep and two, I have two friends beside you. Both dudes, neither would wear a dress.”

“Well obviously they’re not good friends.”

“Does that mean you’re also not a good friend if you don’t try that on? And don’t shit on them, the three of us have been friends since we were little.”

I sighed and draped the dress over my arm. Deep down, I knew I was going to try it on for her.

“Question, if they’re the only ones that have, and have been your friends for practically ever, then why did you suddenly take me as a friend?”

“More like took you under my wing- dude you were offering candy to a dead kid.”

“That was before I joined the medium society.”

“Oh, so you’ve officially joined it now?”

“Yup, got my handbook yesterday.”

She sighed and led me to the dressing room, “‘And on that day humanity received a grim reminder’.”

“Hmmmm I didn’t get that reference. What movie is it?”

She paused then pushed me into a room, “Nothing, forget about it.”

Now I’ve done plenty questionable things before.  I was after all a boy once, but for some reason, playing dress up for a friend seemed like it was the weirdest.

Sadly, the dress fit me well. It looked fab.

When I came out she smiled and gestured for me to twirl.

“You actually look really good, perhaps you should start cross dressing.”

When I turned to face her again she frowned, “Hm it looks uneven...I’ll be right back, stay here.”

She jogged away then came back a moment later with high heels and jewelry- all golden.

“This way, the dress accents your green eye, and the accessories accent the other.”

“Oh so now one eye is green and then there’s ‘the other’?”

“Your gold-ish eye,” she clarified.

“If I put those on can we be done here?”

She began to arrange the accessories and pretended to be sad, “Awww...yeah. I was hoping we could do more but I got something better in mind.”

I shrugged and turned to look in the mirror. I stared at myself for a moment then burst into laughter. It wouldn’t have been so bad if I hadn’t looked okay in the dress.

She leaned on a nearby wall and nodded approvingly, “You should wear dresses more often. Or you should just play dress up with a friend again.”

“Not play dress up with you?”

“Nah, I think I’ve got my fill for about seven months.”

I laughed again and excused myself to take the dress off. She was a witty one, that Annie.

Once we left the store she started towards her car.

“Are we already leaving the mall?”

“Yeah.”

“So we came just so you could see me put on one dress.”

“Yeah.”

“Where are we going now?”

“Tell me about what happened at work. You said would tell me later and it’s later.”

I frowned but told her about it  anyway.

“Uhm well...I got the wounds from breaking down a wall.”

She looked away for a second and I wondered if breaking walls offended her. It seemed like there were a lot of key phrases with this chick that made her upset. “Why did you break down a wall?”

We got into the car and left the mall’s parking lot.

“There was a body behind it and I had to find it.”

“I’m guessing the spirit of the body told you it was there?”

“Yeah.”

“Quick question, how did you know the spirit was a spirit? When I met you at the store you didn’t know the little girl was dead.”

“Well, at first, I didn’t know Mina- the dead girl in our case- was dead. I didn’t really know until we got an EVP from her overnight.”

“So you never actually figured out how to differentiate the living and the dead for yourself.”

“I guess not.”

“I have never met someone who has that problem. When did you realise you could see spirits?”

“The day we met.”

“Please don’t tell me it was because I told you the girl was dead.”

“No, earlier that day in the Carolina’s house the people I work with were starting to tell me that Mina was actually the culprit in our case. I don’t think I wanted to believe it at the time, but I think deep down it made sense. And then the little girl in the store of course.”

“Hmmm…”

“What?”

“Nothing. I just thought I’d try to help you out.”

“Help?”

“Consider it your training for the medium society.”

“Annie...where are we?”

I looked around the area we were in. There was a graveyard up ahead and besides that there was only a church and a forest. There was some people standing around the gazebo by the church and a bunch of people visiting the graveyard. A few people were walking up and down the sidewalk.

She brought the car to a stop in front of the graveyard’s entrance.

“At a graveyard. Duh.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i hope you catch all the moments where eren is almost remembering something. theyre not always very obvious, they're fairly subtle but ahhhh. like when annie was laughing and he said he was scared hed never hear it again- referencing to the fear of losing a friend again.  
> or catch when he says something that reminds annie- like when he says he kicked down a wall and she has to pause just to digest what he said. raaawr
> 
> i  
> i feel like there was more to say but i forgot.  
> oh well. thank you for reading
> 
> ps. someone pls draw eren in the outfit annie put him in


	19. Demon Bait

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> rawr
> 
> all erens pov

Okay, I appreciated her trying to help me out with the whole dead people thing but a graveyard seemed like a little bit too much.

“Annie I don’t think I’m ready-”

“Sure ya are. Dude, you can’t even tell the living from the dead- you either have a really weird talent, are incredibly stupid, or for some reason are just very in tune with the dead. There tends to be a lot of dead people at graveyards so this was the only place I could think of off the top of my head.”

She pulled her keys out of the car and turned to face me, “Okay. Now tell me who’s around us and if they’re dead or not.”

“Okay….” I looked around and felt actual fear by the seemingly harmless people around. How was I supposed to know if they were dead or not??? None of them were transparent like you’d think- they looked like normal people. Maybe none of them were dead, maybe it was a trick question.

“Uhmmmm I think none of them are dead?”

“Look closer. Check out the guy under that tree to the left.”

I leaned over a little to take a look, and sure enough there was a man there. He was staring right at us. His skin looked grey, he was old, and his clothes looked worn. At first glance I thought he was just really poor but then  I realised there was blood coming out of his mouth.

“Okay, I’m gonna say he’s dead, because he looks far too calm for someone who’s drooling blood.”

“But there’s nothing else that tells you he’s dead.”

“Not really. I mean if you hadn’t given it away, I probably would have called 911 for him.”

She sighed and turned away from me.

“Eren, we’re surrounded by spirits right now. We’re the only living one’s here.”

I jumped a little and quickly looked out to all the people who were suddenly staring at us, “All of them?!”

“There might be a few people in the church, but they don’t count right now seeing as we can’t see them.”

“Why are they all staring at us?”

“Spirits can tell if there’s a medium in the area. They want someone to talk to, someone to relay messages, someone to listen.”

“Do you think if I were a spirit I’d be able to tell medium from normal person? I mean what if this ability just translated right to-”

“Eren. That’s not the objective right now.”

I sank into my seat and nodded, “Okay.”

She stared out the window for a minute then got out of the car and motioned for me to do the same.

I, very reluctantly, got out of the car.

A few of the spirits that had been walking on the sidewalk actually moved closer to the car and were just a few meters away.

“Hey Annie?”

She suddenly appeared by my side with her hands casually tucked into her hoodie’s pockets, “What?”

“Should I be scared?”

“There’s no point in asking ‘should’ you, you already are.”

“One more question.”

“Ask it quick, I see that couple over there moving in. Try not to pee your pants.”

I tried to ignore the presence of the spirits around us (to be honest, I’d be kind of insulted if I was them so I wanted to at least try to look like I wasn’t scared), “How can you tell the difference?”

“Well...they don’t have auras. Living people do. I can see them perfectly fine, but communicating with them actually takes work for me. It’s hard to keep a connection with them sometimes.”

Huh. So that’s why she thought I might have a stronger power, because I didn’t even have to try to communicate with them.

She gently grabbed my arm and tugged me towards the graveyard, “Hey c’mon, they’re getting closer and I get the feeling you don’t want to talk to them just yet.”

“Are they going to follow us around?” I asked in alarm.

“If you don’t keep them away they will.”

“Well how do I do that?”

We started down the path with a small group of spirits trailing slowly behind us, “It’s hard to explain. That’s something you really gotta figure out for yourself.”

“That’s helpful.”

“Sometimes if you just ask nicely they’ll leave.”

I looked over my shoulder and did just that.

“Excuse me, could you leave us alone for a little bit?”

There was a pack of six behind us. Two little old ladies, a teenage boy, a middle aged man and woman and a small girl. All except the boy stopped and walked away slowly.

Annie sighed and tugged me onwards, “Some aren’t as polite.”

I decided to follow her example and try to ignore him.

We kept walking peacefully along the trail as more spirits came to notice us. Some had seen that we asked the others to leave and didn’t come closer, but some (just like the boy) came towards us anyway.

It made me incredibly nervous. I didn’t want them any closer, I wanted to leave.

They were scary looking. They all wore blank expressions and just came right at us.

At the edge of the trees I spotted a man hiding and staring at us. I almost thought to go try to speak with him but as soon as I noticed him, he ran towards us.

His quick movement compared to the slowness of the others made me jump, “Ah- Annie what about him?!”

“Which one.”

“Is he okay?” That one scared me. He was getting closer.

“What’s wrong with him?” She was looking right where I was but she didn’t seem to see anything.

“He’s black.” I walked slower and tried to push her back a little so she would too.

“Are you racist-”

“Annie, he’s all black. He has no clothes, no features, no nothing, he’s solid black and the only thing I see on him are eyes.” I was sure purely black spirits weren’t typically a good thing. In fact I was sure that if I called Armin and described the spirit, Armin would identify it as something demonic.

She froze and stared straight ahead, “I don’t see him.”

She was scared too.

“What’s he doing?”

“Running. Straight at us.”

She swore under her breath and took off in the other direction while pulling me along. Instead of getting into the car like I assumed, she turned and we went into the church.

After a moment of considering it I realised she was trying to be cautious- if the spirit was in fact something very bad and did something to the car while we were driving...

The other spirits moved away from the black entity and watched with bored expressions.

Once in the church, she immediately pulled out her phone and dialed a number.

“Shut up Reiner, I need help...I brought Eren to a graveyard, he’s apparently demon bait...shut up. What should we do?...hiding out in a church…”

She turned to me and pulled the phone down, “Hey, can you go check to see if it’s still there?

“I’m not going outside!” I protested.

“Just go look out a window or something.”

That I could do. Maybe I needed to call Mikasa or Levi to come rescue us…

I approached the window hesitantly and looked outside. It looked clear...but then I noticed the spirits were all hiding and I couldn’t see them anymore. And as soon as I noticed that, the figure popped up and banged on the window.

I fell back and restrained myself from screaming like a little girl. I heard Annie start talking again behind me.

“Yeah it’s still there...okay yeah, I do but he doesn’t...No, not at all, in fact he kicked down a wall recently and felt no ironic pain...Do you think that’ll work?...That’s true but...Yeah...Okay, I’ll call you back in a bit.”

She put the phone away and turned to me, “Okay, we’re gonna try something.”

“How did that thing get in a graveyard by a church? These places are supposed to be protected!”

“Eren, I’m not gonna lie, I think it’s after you. Anyway, go outside and tell it to leave.”

I stood up to face her and pointed at the window, “Are you kidding me?! Do you still not see this shit?! It’s staring at me- smiling. SMIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIILIIIIIIIIIING. It’s smiling at me Annie! That’s horror movie stuff!!”

She shrugged and headed towards the doors, “Yeah, maybe taking you out when I wasn’t even aware of what you could do wasn’t the best of ideas.”

“Do you expect it to listen to me?!”

“Yes.”

“Well that solves everything.”

“Listen I’ve seen it done...in a similar situation. A, uh, person I used to know, had the ability to tell...uhm similar creatures what to do and they’d listen due to a special…….talent.”

“That was incredibly cryptic.”

“Just tell it to leave. And not leave just us, it need to leave the entire area. You were right about it not being allowed here.”

She looked back at me and opened the church doors a little bit, “Listen, just think about the spirits in the area. They hid. They can’t stay here if this thing stays, and they’ve got nowhere else to go. You have to help them.”

I had given up on trying to understand what was going on. One minute I was supposed to be letting my hands and feet heal, then I was playing dress up, then I was hiding from a demon in a church.

“Can I punch you for getting us into this.”

“Only if we make it out.”

She opened the door completely and revealed nothing outside.

I had wisened up in the thirty seconds it had been since I last saw it and braced myself for a surprise attack.

Sure enough, he slowly crept into my view and stood a few feet away from the church.

He just stood there.

“Is he not there anymore?” Annie whispered.

I took a deep breath and spoke clearly, “Go back to where you came from and stay there.”

Annie and I stood there for a moment, waiting all tensed up- though Annie was probably more tense since she couldn’t see it.

Then suddenly it just faded away. Just, poof, gone

“Well that was frighteningly easy,” I sighed.

She practically jumped out of the building and quickly walked back towards the car, “Told you. Anyway let’s go, I think my day was just ruined.”

I rolled my eyes, but jogged with her anyways, “It’s your fault.”

“Hey, I helped you learn a little today, you can’t deny that.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here ya go  
> here is another chapter  
> for you  
> just you.  
> yes you sitting there being a cutie, you there. this is for you.
> 
> i dont know what else to say take this and just...just do your thing yeah


	20. Wow Erwin What a Gr8 Idea

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i remember what i was going to say last time aWYEAH but ill mention that at the end
> 
> anyhoodle this chapter is all erens pov

When I returned to work on Monday, only Petra seemed to remember my injured hands and feet.

Even Levi, who seemed quite concerned before I left, didn’t ask about them. I was slightly offended.

Anyway since the Carolina’s case was over I was finally able to ‘decorate’ my part of the office.

Meaning I brought my laptop and some books then left the room to go play with Sawney and Bean.

Levi didn’t care. He was tapping away at his keyboard with an intense expression so he probably didn’t even notice me leaving.

After several minutes of petting Sawney and Bean, I realised a shadow had fallen over me. I looked up to stare at the face of an amused Erwin Smith.

“Having fun?”

I immediately stood up and apologised, “Sorry sir! Levi doesn’t need me at the moment so I just-”

“It’s fine, Eren,” he assured me. He leaned down to pick up Sawney and cooed at it, “I even find myself a little bored at the moment.”

That’s odd. I kind of thought after such a traumatic ending to a case he’d be busy.

He sensed my confusion, “There’s not much to do right now. Mike is tying up loose ends with the Carolina’s and we’re already off the hook with the police.”

“That reminds me, do you think I should go to the funeral sir?”

He hummed thoughtfully and tickled Sawney’s chin, “That’s entirely up to you. If you don’t want to we can come up with plenty of excuses to get you out of it, though.”

I nodded and said nothing. I didn’t know what to say. I probably made it awkward by not saying anything but what was I supposed to say?

“I feel like we’ve missed out on some of the fun since we were gone,” he started sadly.

“What do you mean?”

“While we were working with the Carolina’s, apparently Hanji spent a lot of time experimenting with the new talent.”

“Oh. That does sound like fun.”

He looked at me thoughtfully for a moment, “Do you know what Levi is doing? Perhaps we could go have fun.”

“Not really. I can go find out.”

“I’ll come with you.”

He headed back to Levi’s office and stood behind his chair until he decided to acknowledge us.

“What.”

“Care to go ghost hunting Levi?”

“Why.”

“For fun.”

“I fail to see how that’s fun.”

I had to agree. Based on the experience I had gotten in ghost hunting with Annie during the weekend, I didn’t think ghost hunting would be too fun.

Levi shrugged and closed his laptop, “What do you say Eren?”

“I don’t really mind.”

“He doesn’t want to go Erwin.”

Erwin bent down to put Sawney on the ground, “Well we could work on developing his new abilities!”

Levi sighed and got up to leave the room, “Fine have it your way, Erwin.”

Erwin gave me a wink before following Levi out.

I don’t know what he was thinking. I honestly still couldn’t pick out the living from the dead and was apparently demon bait.

On our way out of the building Connie came up and stopped me.

“Hey, be careful.”

“Huh?”

He put his foot by the door to keep it open for me and glanced at Erwin and Levi.

“There’ll be someone who wants to hitchhike. Don’t let the man in the car.”

I froze and stared at him, “”Are we in danger?! Should we just not go??”

He considered for a second, then shook his head, “Nah you should be fine. Just be careful.”

I hesitated then eventually nodded, “Okay.”

\--

Nobody else was free or wanted to leave at the time so it ended up just being the three of us. Mike said if he finished up soon enough he could drive out and join us, though.

“Where are we going Erwin.”

Levi really didn’t seem too thrilled about going out. He seemed incredibly bored.

“Some of the younger people were able to point out a haunted bridge and I thought we could check it out.”

“Well what’s the story behind it?”

“A farmer crashed on this bridge and likes to try to get rides from people so he can cause them to get into a car crash, too.”

“Oh joy.”

“Mike will find us if we crash and die.”

“Comforting.”

They fell into a silence after that. I wasn’t really involved in their conversation at all. What would I even say; they were my bosses.

I was content with sitting there watching them. They were both handsome.

Very handsome.

 

As we drove down a narrow road a small figure came into view. They were standing on the side of the road holding a hand out.

Besides the fact that they wore all black and were standing out in the middle of nowhere AND that hitchhiking was a big no-no so they were probably stupid, I remembered something that made me really suspicious of them.

Before we left, Connie stopped me and ominously said to ‘not let the man in the car’. Weird, but when your friend who tends to have premonitions tells you something in a creepy voice, you just go with it.

Maybe I should have taken that comment more seriously.

Anyway, I had the sneaking feeling that the person ahead was the man Connie was referring to.

Erwin and Levi paused their conversation and glanced at the figure briefly before looking back to each other.

I leaned forward and answered their unspoken question, “Don’t stop.”

The two older men shrugged and accepted my decision without resistance. Good.

Well it was a good thing and a bad thing. I mean, yeah I got the power, two old men listening to me, but on the other hand…why didn’t they object. Didn’t they want to know why they shouldn’t pick up the poor guy? Were they just so far out there that they no longer cared enough about people to even give a crap? I guess making a living off of scamming people does that to you.

They passed the man and peacefully continued with their conversation.

I, on the other hand, was beginning to feel nervous. What would have happened if we had let the guy in? I needed to ask Connie about that, obviously he knew or saw something.

I pulled my phone out and began texting the prophetic friend when I noticed that Erwin and Levi’s talking had silenced again.

I looked up and found them staring at the right- where a figure in black stood with their hand out.

Short stuff narrowed his eyes, “Is that the same guy?”

Tall stuff leaned forward a little and furrowed his mighty eyebrows, “It looks like it?”

Levi glanced at me in the corner of his eye and raised an eyebrow. Assuming that he was asking for my opinion on what to do, I shook my head.  He looked back to Erwin and shook his head dismissively, “That’s too weird, just keep going.”

Erwin nodded and obeyed, but this time their conversation remained dead.

Until the mysterious figure showed up for a third time.

Levi cursed under his breath and pulled out his phone, “Are we driving in circles??” When the map wouldn’t come up he banged it against his hand, “Damnit…my phone isn’t working.”

“Should we call Hanji to give us directions?” Erwin wondered out loud.

“Erwin. Hanji will direct us straight to hell. What do you think?”

“I think we should be more focused on that person…” I interrupted.

“Do you sense something different about that person?” Mr. Eyebrows asked, suddenly very interested in me.

See I knew there’d be a lot more questions for me because of my newly discovered talent, but I was soooooo not prepared to answer any of them. “Uhm…I don’t know? I’m a little anxious but it may just be because of what Connie said before we left- he said to ‘not let the man in the car’.”

Erwin tapped his fingers against the drivers’ wheel and stared thoughtfully at the figure through the rear view mirror, “I wonder why that was…”

“I feel like you should have mentioned that earlier Eren,” Levi deadpanned.

“Sorry…”

Erwin sighed and sped up, “Well, let’s just keep going. He can’t do anything if we don’t let him in.”

I nodded and sat back, but I still felt uneasy. What if we ran out of gas? What would happen then? What if we got out of the car and that person came charging at us with a chainsaw and murdered us all brutally?? What if he was one of those ghost that try to get other people into car accidents because they died in car- oh shit.

We passed him for a fourth time and a feeling of dread hit me as hard as if we drove into a tree.

My face paled and I stared down at my hands in my lap, “He’s going to get in anyway.”

The other two immediately looked back at me, “What do you mean?”

Suddenly there was a pressure on the seat next to me and I froze. The car came to a screeching halt which made us all lurch forward at once.

As I turned to look at the unwelcomed passenger, I noticed the other two scrambling to do something, but I was a little distracted by being flung out a door that had opened by itself.

I rolled across the pavement, wow damn that was quite the force I had been thrown with, and when I finally came to a stop my head made an unfortunate collision with the concrete then everything seemed to stop.

My vision was suddenly blurry and time slowed which was very inconvenient for me- it made trying to comprehend what even happened very difficult.

My head was pulsing. Does that make any sense? It felt like my head was pulsing. Hopefully it wasn’t like blood pouring out of my head that resembled the feeling of pulsing. That’d be bad.

I could vaguely make out Levi struggling with the unknown person, but they were on the other side of the car and the car was blocking my view.

The combination of my heart pounding quickly against my chest while everything moved so slowly, proved to be very distracting.

I decided to check on Erwin only to discover he was rushing out of the car and yelling something.

Strange. I couldn’t hear him. I could hear my own breathing but I couldn’t hear anything else. I couldn’t tell if my breathing was drowning out all other noise or if I simply just couldn’t hear.

A little light appeared at the top of my vision and for a brief moment I thought I was dying or about to pass out. Then I realized they were headlights. Oh joy a car was coming maybe they could help us out.

Oh wait not joy, I was kind of laying in the middle of the street. I tried to move but after a few futile attempts I realized that just wasn’t going to happen.

Erwin crouched down and lifted me while carefully supporting my head then gently placed me down on the back seat of the car.

The fact that he could fit in the back seat with me made me frown. Where did the sudden abundance of room come from?? He was a fairly large man…there shouldn’t have been enough room for him to lean over me in the back section of the car, that was just weird.

Levi’s added presence in the back seat made me laugh inside though; sure there wasn’t enough room for Erwin, but there was certainly enough room for tiny Levi.

Levi frowned and waved Erwin away. His absence was short lived however, because he soon became visible again in the drivers’ seat.

I turned my attention back to the raven haired man who was studying me intensely. A little too intensely. What was wrong with that man.

He was saying something. I could read his lips, but I couldn’t hear him and that frustrated me to no end.

Eren? Eren can you hear me?

I tried to shake my head but that was far more painful than it was worth, so I opted to lie still and simply stare blankly at him.

“Eren?”

Now that I finally heard. But then I was too tired to reply.

“Eren say something.”

“Is he responding at all?” Erwin called.

Their talking made me even more tired for some reason.

I decided to ignore them and close my eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok so i was going to say go follow me on tha tumblr and im gonna post more about this fanfic. just questions for anything about to happen (but simple stuff), updates maybe slight spoilers. maybe any art i draw for it or any fan art. idk opinions?
> 
> also after this fanfic im so just writing a bunch of little sweet one shot things because this just goes on forever  
> ive got a list of little fanfics and theyre ready to be written  
> they are ready for their time to shine.  
> i might even write a quick one while working on this one wow how crazy
> 
> ps tha tumblr url is ooberry.tumblr.com


	21. I Hope We Won

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> allllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll levis pov

I couldn’t focus on any of the random shit I could’ve been doing due to worrying about Eren, so I opted to sit by the futon and wait for him to wake up.

I was assured it would be okay to go home and that Armin or Mikasa would stay back, but I was worried.

Mikasa stayed back anyhow. She sat on the futon next to Eren and just stared at the wall.

I remembered she slept with her eyes open in the car before so I wondered if she was actually sleeping, but I really didn’t want to test it.

After the strange incident on the road, we brought Eren back and laid him down. He stayed unconscious the whole time. It was three in the morning and the only movement he made was breathing.

Since it had already gotten a little late by the time we had gotten back and explained everything, Armin and Hanji couldn’t search for information among random citizens. They both agreed to head home early, get some rest, then get an early start.

Erwin and Mike were tucked away in their office having sex or doing research. Whatever large, fit, old men do.

Everyone else pretty much said to keep them updated then left.

Eventually Mikasa stood up and left.

She stopped at the door and called out to me, “Levi. I need to go sleep otherwise I won’t be able to get up in the morning.”

“That’s fine-”

“Please let me know if anything happens.”

“...I’ll give you hourly updates.”

She nodded then started to slip out, only to pause again before actually leaving.

“I’ll come back early and bring you both breakfast.”

She was kinda cute y’know. It was adorable how concerned she was about her brother and how surprisingly soft she was for him. I was glad he had her to look after him though.

What wasn’t adorable was waiting for the kid to wake up.

Fortunately, lady luck seemed to be on my side. Eren groaned and turned his head about a millimeter.

I took my cell out to tell Mikasa, but Eren pulled down my hand.

I waited patiently for him to say something.

“...don’t…”

“Why not?”

“...You were about to call Mikasa...right?” he spoke slowly like talking was painful.

“Yes. Do you have a problem with that?”

“...don’t bother her.”

“I kind of told her I’d give her updates on how you were doing.”

“She’ll come back to the office even though she needs to sleep…”

“What would you like me to do, Eren?”

“Just...text her later when she’ll be asleep and won’t notice. It won’t change much if you tell her I woke up later.”

I nodded and put my phone back in my pocket.

“So  were you up the whole time? You just were waiting for her to leave?”

“No?...I just figured it out myself.”

He sat up then immediately flopped over and almost off the futon.

I stared at him for a moment before helping him up, “Well that wasn’t smart.”

He coughed and leaned on my shoulder for a moment, “...Neither was hunting down a rumored violent spirit...yet here we are.”

I clicked my tongue and eased him down again, “Get some rest. And if you don’t want to, at least don’t sit up so fast like an idiot.”

“My head hurts.”

“No shit Sherlock. I’ll get you some water, hold on.”

“I don’t want wateerrrr,” he whined.

I paused once I reached the fridge and glanced over my shoulder, “Then what the hell do you want?”

He was quiet for a moment, presumably trying to decide on what it was he truly wanted.

“Sleep.”

“Drink some water, then go to sleep. Maybe you should take some Advil too.”

“I want a hug.”

I thought he was joking. When I turned around and found him sitting up with outstretched arms though, I realised he was not.

“It’s because of you I might have a concussion,” he reasoned.

“Actually it’s Erwin’s fault, and you don’t. Hanji said the sides of your left arm and leg took most of the blow and that your heads bump should go down by tonight.”

He frowned yet accepted the water and Advil.

“You didn’t have to take up Erwin on his proposal though,” he continued, “You could have said no.”

“Why don’t you go get a hug from Mike. Or wait until Hani gets back, they’ll give you hugs.”

“Because getting a hug from you is an accomplishment only possible when one is hurting.”

“Who the fuck told you that?”

“Hanji.”

“When have you had down time to discuss such things with Hanji?”

“The other day in the hall they just told me that out of the blue. They looked awfully happy.” He tilted his head and looked away thoughtfully, “Did you hug Hanji recently?”

“They told me they got a paper cut but now I’m starting to doubt that story- you only want a hug, right?”

“How hurt do I need to be to get a bedtime story thrown in?”

“You’d have to be dead, now come here.”

I reluctantly gave him a hug.

I was prepared to end the hug as soon as it started, but he held me longer than expected.

I patted his back awkwardly to hint that it was time for the hug to end, but instead of letting go he just sighed and rested his chin on my shoulder.

“I hope we won…” he murmured.

“...You mean what Mina said?”

“Mhmm.”

“Do you know what she was talking about?”

‘No. But I hope we won.”

“Hm….I do too.”

 

\--

 

Everyone came to check on us in the morning. Mikasa stayed true to her words and brought us both coffee and various pastries probably unqualified to be considered breakfast, but oh well.

The others chatted for a little while before heading to their duties, nobody discussing why Eren was hurt in the first place.

Neither Erwin or Mike had come in yet.

I considered trying to get permission for us to each get home for a little bit to at least shower and change, but Hanji insisted on Eren staying where they could check on him so I was the only one excused.

I was going to take it. After a night of uncomfortable sleep and worrying I could use a shower. I considered stopping by Erwin’s office for a little bit, but I wasn’t really in the mood to deal with that.

…

Actually I was.

I left Mikasa with Eren and headed to chat with Erwin.

I opened the door and peeked my head in, “Erwin?”

He was sitting on his desk facing Mike who was slightly to his side.

“Am I interrupting something?”

They looked troubled. He shook his head and waved me in, “No, no, come in. We were discussing last nights events. How is Eren, by the way?”

I was actually relieved he remembered Eren was hurt in that fiasco. For a while there I had assumed he was avoiding the issue or forgot it altogether.

“He should be okay. He just needs rest- kid’s lucky with that, he seems to just sleep his injuries away.”

“Well that’s good. He can stay low for a while, we don’t have anything planned unless a case pops up. And we certainly aren’t going to search for any roadside ghosts soon.”

Mike was the one to get down to business. After Erwin finished his small talk, Mike turned to me, “Did Eren say anything about what he did over the weekend?”

“He said he stayed in bed and watched television,” I answered simply.

They said nothing and continued looking into the distance with their troubled expressions (what is this, a soap opera?).

“What’s wrong?” I was getting sick and tired of their recent secretive behaviors. It was getting old really fast and whatever they were hiding better have been a good story. To be honest I was a little hurt Mike was in on it too. He hadn’t been too bad but I was beginning to think otherwise. But maybe he was troubled from discussing things with Erwin. I needed to have faith in Mike. Believe he wasn’t in cahoot with Erwin and Hanji.

Erwin sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, “Sasha said he went out to a cemetery and had a run-in with a very bad entity.”

“What?”

Mike nodded and turned his back to us, “It’s possible this entity he ran into may have been the one on the road, if that’s the case.”

“You’re suggesting it followed him all weekend without a sign until it suddenly threw him out of a car.”

“What’s even more concerning is how easily you took care of it, Levi,” Erwin added.

That’s right...it went without a fight.

Once we realised there was a fourth presence in the car, Erwin slammed on the breaks. Eren went flying out the left side of the car and Erwin went after him while I got out to take care of the spirit.

It moved on quickly and painlessly.

I didn’t think it was as dark as its abilities pointed to, but the idea that it was following Eren was worrying.

“We don’t know the extent of Eren's abilities,” Erwin continued, “It seems he’s still developing them, too, so we don’t know what we’re working with here.”

“Now you’re suggesting he may be a sort of spiritual magnet.”

“Could it be simply that his talent is so raw, it attracts them?” Mike wondered out loud, “Like they can tell he doesn’t know what to do?”

Erwin hummed and chewed on his lip, “And he doesn’t know how to protect himself…”

“Why was he at a graveyard?” I asked suddenly. What the fuck was he doing at a graveyard? He was supposed to be resting so his injuries could heal.

Erwin paused suspiciously before answering, “Sasha couldn’t tell. But he was with someone important.”

  
“Important?”

“You don’t know her, Levi.”

“I hardly see why that should keep me from knowing of her.”

“I meant….important in the sense we need to know more about her and that all we know is she is also a medium.”

Bullshit.

There was obviously more to it and even Mike looked wary of Erwin’s answer.

I turned around and flat out left.

I was tired and felt dirty; I was in no condition to be thinking hard and being mad at Erwin.

I took up over an hour just slowly showering and slowly lounging around our apartment. I didn’t spend much time lounging around the apartment though, nobody was home (not even Sawney and Bean) and it felt weird to be alone there during working hours.

So when I had to get back to work I did so with a rather pleasant attitude. It was nice to be alone for a little while and cleanse myself, even if I was almost asleep the whole time.

Soon after getting back in my office, Mikasa wordlessly left and I found Sawney and Bean sleeping next to Eren.

It’s funny. You’d think they’d be drawn to Kirschtein since he could communicate with them, yet they stuck to Eren.

I went to my desk and decided to tackle some bills in the meantime. The deadline would be coming up soon and the apartment’s would be too. Might as well do them both.

As I sat down, the door entered and in came barreling the Hanji Zoe.

Once they saw Eren was sleeping they seemed to falter a bit, but then they quickly recuperated and locked their focus onto me.

“Ravioli!!”

“Shh, they’re sleeping.”

They tip toed over and whispered, “Ravioli!”

“What.”

They crouched over a little to be eye level with me and batted their eyelashes, “Do you mind if I sit in here a while?”

“Why do you want to?”

“I wanna sit with Eren.”

“He’s not dead or in a coma Hanji. You’re the one that said he’d be fine, he’s just sleeping.”

They scooted away from me and towards the futon anyhow, “I knoooow, but that can’t help me from worrying and just wanting to be supportful. I’ll be quiet, I’m just gonna overlook some info Armin and I got.”

“...Alright.”

After a while of tolerating Hanji’s presence, I decided to try to find out why they really were in my office.

I glanced over my shoulder at them to find them still leaning on the futon and scribbling something, then sighed and turned back to my own work. “I don’t imagine him sleeping will do you any good. Nor will him being awake- he really can’t do much for you Hanji, he isn’t a psychic; he’s a medium. Unless you’re performing an experiment for Arlert, I’d like to know what it is you’re up to.”

Hanji ceased writing and dramatically turned their paper over to reveal useless doodles, “You’ve caught me red handed Levi. Though I never did say I was here on business.” They winked then hopped onto the futon next to Eren.

I turned my head sharply and hissed at them, “Hanji!”

They waved a hand at me then tugged at Eren’s shoulder.

I was prepared to get up and promptly shove them off the futon when Eren groggily peeked over his shoulder and slowly blinked at Hanji.

He didn’t seem angry or upset at all…he just seemed plain sleepy.

“What?” he croaked.

Hanji situated themselves under the blanket and opened their arms to him, “C’mere.”

That little brat woke him up just to request to snuggle with him what a selfish little shit. They were stupid if they thought he would just go with it; the kid loved sleep and he probably had a killer headache.

He stared at them for a moment before lamely turning over and scooting closer to Hanji.

Apparently I was the stupid one.

I couldn’t complain though. As soon as they settled, they went right to sleep. I shrugged and went back to work in silence.

A little over half an hour later I was done with all of the paperwork. I yawned and stretched my arms above my head before slumping back in my chair. Perhaps it was my turn to go to sleep. I did afterall get only a few hours of it the night previous.

I turned to face the sleeping idiots and watched blankly as Eren began to squirm. Perhaps he was finally ready to wake up. And perhaps he actually was bothered by Hanji’s close proximities.

Then he started mumbling as well and it occurred to me he was still asleep. At least if he kept talking I could just excuse myself.

I rubbed the back of my neck and paused when I realized he was actually saying coherent words. It didn’t sound English though.

Hanji sat up abruptly and frowned down at him as I watched blankly. They weren’t one to wake up so fast. It usually took them about an hour to completely turn their brain on.

“What language is that?” I mused.

They turned to me with that fire in their eyes that told me they were on the verge of something. Though as to what it was, I had absolutely no clue.

They narrowed their eyes continued to stare at me…though more like right through me it seemed. I could see those wheels turning in their head- they were looking at me, but they weren’t seeing me.

“German,” they muttered.

I tilted my head, “Do you know German? What is he saying?”

They didn’t answer. They sat still and listened to him.

I had no idea what was going on but they seemed to know so I kept quiet. It was impossible to know what he was saying since I didn’t speak German, but I could tell he was distressed. If you wanted my opinion, I’d say he was calling out for help. He also said something that I was pretty sure meant ‘mother’.

When I looked back to Hanji they were putting their phone down while still staring at Eren. Creepy.

I was willing to guess they had texted Erwin to come. And I say that because he came in a moment later.

I looked back and forth between them suspiciously, “Is there something I should know here?”

Neither of them answered me. Erwin gave me a brief glance then looked at Hanji. I was beginning to get visibly frustrated.

Eren gasped and sat up with wide-eyes. He looked wildly between all of us and tried to catch his breath as the three of us watched him.

Hanji brushed some hair out of his face and tilted their head, “Eren? You had a nightmare sweetie.”

He stared at them sadly for a moment then nodded solemnly, “Right…right okay…”

I cleared my throat and frowned, “Do you remember what it was about?”

He seemed relieved when he noticed me, “Yeah… it was uh…these…giant? Creatures? I don’t know how to describe it…they were literally just giants. Ah…long story short, one ate my ‘mom’.”

I raised my eyebrows at how suddenly he ended the story, “Oh…”

Hanji and Erwin were unusually quiet. It almost looked like they were waiting for something.

Eren shook his head and ran his hands through his hair, “Ahhhh I’m fine though. It was just a dream, I’m a little shaken up but I’m fine.”

Hanji’s shoulders fell as if they were disappointed with his response. Erwin frowned but stayed silent.

“I’ll leave you alone then.”

Hanji got up and left with Erwin. Once they were gone he turned to me with great confusion, “Was that weird or is it just me? Why was Erwin here?”

I looked to the door and agreed, “It was. And I’m pretty sure Hanji made him come in here. I’ve no clue why.”

We sat in silence for a few minutes as I allowed him some time to gather his thoughts. Finally he brought  his gaze up to me and blinked, “I’m so tired.”

I chuckled and stood up to stretch, “Go home and go to sleep. I think I’m gonna do the same.”

He got up slowly and shuffled towards the door, “...That’s a good idea.”

He turned around once he reached the door and pointed at me, “Can you give me a ride?”

I thought about it for a second then realized he, Mikasa and Armin shared a car so if he went home early, the other two would have an issue.

I nodded and pushed him forward, “Sure. Let’s go.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my schedules fixing to get reaaaaaaaaal wacky folks  
> if youre following me on tumblr ill warn you on there when im about to update (if its not on a normal thursday) but if not just keep your eyes peeled
> 
> our boys are getting closer to the truth. slowly, but surely


	22. Slenderman

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> eren's pov then levi's!

“Eren?”

I quickly closed the tab for a videogame I totally was not playing and  turned to face one of my employers.

“Yes sir?”

“Get out of here Erwin, we’re busy,” Levi grunted.

Erwin entered the room and peeked at Levi’s laptop, “Are you two actually doing work?”

“It’s very important business.”

“‘Slenderman’?”

“Just in case we ever run into him, I thought it best at least a few of us have some experience.”

Erwin simply shook his head and laughed. Levi stared at him with an unamused expression and I looked away sheepishly. Levi may have been okay with Erwin catching us playing games but I was embarrassed.

“I was wondering if you two would mind sitting in for the reading happening tomorrow?”

Since the end of the Carolina’s case we’d  had a peaceful two weeks without any appointments. We’d discussed my abilities at length but ultimately decided that there really wasn’t a way to test them and that we’d wait for a case to come along before trying anything (I of course hadn’t told them about my adventure with Annie). Hanji was a little saddened by that, they wanted to test some things but they also knew there wasn’t much they could test.

They did however test me for other things. Asking what card they were holding, asking if they knew what they were thinking about, asking if I could control things (and people) with mind powers, etc.

Erwin was suggesting I could sit in on the reading Petra and Sasha were going to do for a certain Mrs. Yega; maybe I would have a stunning revelation about a new talent.

“I thought we were going to anyway. I’m kind of one of the bosses here,” Levi answered.

“I’m just checking. You tend to be bored by these.”

Levi grunted then turned and went back to finding slenderman. What a lost man.

Erwin chuckled and turned to me, “What about you Eren?”

“I do what he does.”

He nodded at my laptop before winking and leaving, “So I see.”

After a few minutes of silence (minus Levi tapping away at his keyboard), I turned to him with a frown, “I thought us playing scary video games had an unspoken agreement that nobody else was to know.”

He was quiet for another moment, but his tapping had stopped so I knew he was thinking of something to say.

He ended up saying nothing. He leaned back, ran a hand through his hair and simply laughed.

\--

  
“Hey Eren.”

He took a small sidestep towards me and whispered, “What?”

“Are you related to this woman?”

Petra and Sasha sat down at the table across from Mrs. Yega and both shook hands with her.

Erwin and Mike had done research on Mrs. Yega earlier and were positioned on either side of the room for Petra’s use; should she or Sasha say something not true or logically possible she would be able to tell by them.

Eren gave me a funny look and tilted his head. He looked like a puppy.

“What?!”

“‘Yega’ sounds an awful lot like ‘Jaeger’ if you say it with a funny accent.”

“No it doesn’t.”

“Sure, here say it with me- Yega.”

“‘Yay-ga’.”

“Jaeger.”

“Huh. I guess it does.”

“Plus you two look almost identical.”

“That would have been more substantial evidence to start with.”

I chuckled softly and turned my attention back to the job at hand. Well. I tried my best. I missed the beginning of their psychic stuff so my mind wandered.

Eren and Mrs. Yega did look an awful lot alike. They had the same skin color, hair color and face shape. Her eyes were the same color as Eren’s golden-copper one.

Her smile caught my attention too. It was the same smile I’d caught Eren making a few times when he thought nobody was looking.

A sudden finger on my cheek caught my attention.

While the others were busy I turned my attention to the person standing to my left, “Stop poking me Hanji.”

“Stop making adorable faces.”

“What the hell??”

“Are you thinking about Ereeeeeeeeeeeen?” they cooed.

I swatted at their hands that threatened to pinch my cheeks, “Shut up!”

“Weeeeevi woves Eweeeeeen~”

Eren leaned over and joined in, “What about me?”

“Hey, Eren how do you feel about-”

I slapped my hand over their mouth and moved my head to block them from Eren’s vision, “Nothing, Eren, pay attention.”

A brief look of confusion passed over his eyes before he nodded and turned back to Petra and Sasha.

I spent the rest of the time quietly bickering with Hanji.

For an hour.

By the time Mrs. Yega left I was practically suffocating. I stumbled away with Eren following and Hanji laughing in the background.

“Eren, if I ordered you to kill Hanji would you obey.”

“S-sir?!” he stuttered.

“Okay, what if it was just to physically harm them?”

“Uhhhh no?”

I grunted and led him towards Erwin’s room since I suspected he would want to talk to Eren.

“So did you learn anything?” I asked. He didn’t say anything nor did he look shocked by anything during the whole reading.

He shook his head, “No.”

“Hm...well what can you tell me about Mrs. Yega using your other talent?”

His shoulders rose a little like he was trying to hide and he shook his head again, “Nothing sorry, I wasn’t paying attention to her. I was distracted by you and Hanji.”

I frowned and sat down on Erwin’s desk, praying Erwin wouldn’t enter for at least a few minutes.

“You’re lying. While that was a nice attempt to get me mad at Hanji and forget your weird behavior, it didn’t work. Now what can you tell me about Mrs. Yega?”

He looked away awkwardly and fidgeted with his hands, “Her presence made me...upset.”

“What do you mean?”

“I was sad and angry, and she made me feel nostalgic and I felt so...excited? But not in a good way, excited like I wanted to run away but….not? But also excited...in a good way...I felt like I missed her...” He sighed and hid his face in his hands. Instead of prompting him, I waited for him to finish.

“I saw her in a dream once…”

I perked up at that. Premonition was not a talent I suspected he had or would develop but it was welcomed nonetheless.

“What happened in the dream?”

“Do you remember…” he peeked up at me through his fingers, “Do you remember the other day when I slept here and had that nightmare?”

I frowned again. He took a lot of naps in his free times and plenty of them were interrupted by nightmares. I myself was beginning to have more nightmares and was beginning to suspect it was a contagious disease he had given to me.

“You have a lot of nightmares, Eren.”

“No, the one where Hanji and Erwin were in the room when I woke up too.”

“Oh…”

“She was in that.”

“I thought you said your mother was eaten.”

“I don’t have a mother Levi. I just said ‘my mother’, it was my mother in my dream but not in real life.”

I bit my lip and looked away. ‘Yega’, ‘Jaeger’...perhaps…?

“Is it possible...she is your mother?” I didn’t know his familial situation except that all he had was Mikasa. I assumed Eren’s parents adopted her, but with this information it looked more like they were both put in the foster system and adopted together.

He furiously shook his head, “My mother is dead.”

Oh.

God I’m such an asshole why did I bring that up ugh.

Before I could try to apologize for it, Erwin, Mike, Hanji and Moblit entered the room.

“Oh, Eren!” Erwin greeted, “Did anything happen? Or did you discover anything?”

Eren shrugged, “Not really, sorry.”

Erwin looked down with a look of slight disappointment but also nodded in understanding, “Ah well that’s too bad.”

I was confused by Eren’s answer. I thought the fact Mrs. Yega had been in his dream was significant.

“Well if that’s all you need us for,” I spoke up, “We need to get back to our business.”

Erwin chuckled and waved us off, “Right, right. You two get to that.”

I nodded and hustled Eren away to our office.

“Why didn’t you tell them what you told me?”

His eyes widened in surprise, “I thought I wasn’t supposed to?”

I blinked a few times and tilted my head, “And why not?”

“Well I thought...those kinds of things were just between us?”

I blinked again and stared at him blankly. It took me a minute, but then I got at what he was saying.

“Eren, that’s a far-fetched suggestion.”

“I think it might make sense though.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So what's up with this Mrs. Yega chick huh???
> 
> also  
> if youre not following me on tumblr you really should be  
> im going to be posting a big spoiler about what's in the next chapter cuz  
> trust me its worth it you guys will like what happens this is the sh*t youve been waiting for.  
> possibly.
> 
> EDIT: my tumblr is ooberry.tumblr.com  
> srry i forgot to mention dat


	23. Reincarnation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> levi's pov then eren's!

“I’m sorry these about these two,” I sighed.

It had been a long day at work due to Hanji doing experiments and requiring Eren to be on standby just in case he would have a magical psychic revelation.

Sawney and Bean had refused to leave the office without Eren so he agreed to come to my place to drop them off as long as I’d give him a ride home since Armin and Mikasa would take the other car.

He set Sawney down and yawned, “It’s cool.”

“Why don’t you just stay here tonight? We’re heading to the same place tomorrow.”

I mentally slapped myself for suggesting it. What a rash idea why didn’t I think before speaking. I probably seemed like the weirdest boss a kid could have. And it’d be worse when the idiot realized I liked him.

Hopefully he wouldn’t wise up anytime soon.

He considered it for a moment then shrugged, “Okay. I’ll let Mikasa know.”

Then he pulled out his phone and seemingly did just that.

Holy shit.

I didn’t know how to host a sleepover.

Or do only kids call it that? Oh gosh.

“Well you can probably some of Hanji’s clothes- you’re close in size.  I'll get a shower set up for you...ah, and don't worry, I have some extra toothbrushes so you can use one of those."

    He nodded then glanced around, "Cool...uh, where am I gonna sleep?"

    I noticed his eyes lingered on the couch for a brief moment as if he suspected it was the answer.

    "Uh, my bed has enough room for two, but if you'd rather the couch-"

   "I don't mind," he quickly interrupted.

    Holy shit.

His eyes widened and he suddenly tried to back track, "I mean, if you really don't mind me in your bed, then I'd...prefer it. But you know how I have bad dreams..."

    Maybe this kid liked me and hoped I wouldn't wise up.

    Oh my God I sounded like I had a high school crush; time to tone it down.

    Calm down Levi.

    "Yeah it's fine, as long as you clean yourself first. I don't want a nasty brat on my bed."

    He chuckled and followed me down the hall without protest. I pointed out Hanji's, Erwin's and my own room, then led him into the bathroom.

    I got everything ready for him then quickly turned to leave, "You go ahead and get in there, I’ll get some clothes from Hanji."

    After escaping that I stayed true to my word and made a bee-line to Hanji's room.

    "Hanji I need clothes."

    They were sitting on the floor surrounded by cats and stray papers and they didn't even bother to look up at me, "Aw, did wittwe Wevi have an accident?"

    I sighed and went ahead to pick out clothes from their drawers, "Eren's spending the night and my clothes are too small for the kid."

    "Hah." They paused their scribbling, "Wait, spending the night?"

    "Yes."

    "In your room?"

    "Yes."

    They nodded then continued their furious scribbling, "There's some condoms in my bathroom drawer."

    "No."

    I quickly grabbed any random articles of clothing I could find and fled.

    They cackled and called out after me, "If your horniness scares him off he can come stay in my room!"

    Aw hell no.

    After that fiasco came another problem- how to get the clothes to Eren.

    I could just walk in and set it down, but what if he came out at the same time? But then what if I waited and he came out in only a towel and it was too much for me to handle?

    There it was again. The school-girl-crush thoughts. Well screw that.

    I plunged into the bathroom and slammed the clothes on the counter. Which in turn caused him to curiously pop his head out from behind the shower curtain and peek at me.

    "Levi?"

    I froze then slowly turned to the shower while trying to keep a cool expression, "Yes."

    "Oh the clothes. I think I'm done, can you toss me the towel?"

    I lifted an eyebrow and reluctantly reached for the towel, "'You think'?"

    I couldn't see him, but I could practically hear his eye roll, "I'm clean, don't worry. Your bed shan't be infected tonight."

    He emerged from the shower before I could run away which resulted in my discovery of his rather muscular body.

I mean when I’d first seen him I could tell he worked out, but wow. Those abs. Hot damn.

Eren gave me a funny look and tilted his head. I noted that his eyes widened a little.

I said that out loud shit.

“I mean let me turn the vent on you little shit you’re gonna steam up the whole bathroom- I mean, the hot water you used is... jeez,” I flipped the vent on then weakly stumbled out of the bathroom, leaving him confused.

I’m an idiot.

“Levi?”

I warily looked to my left to see Erwin standing at the counter with Sawney.

“Are you okay?”

I crossed the room to join him and slumped against the counter, “I’m a fucking idiot Erwin...how long have you known and why didn’t you tell me?”

His eyes twinkled and he smiled, “I expected  at least another month before you figured it out. What’s wrong?”

I glanced over my shoulder really quick to make sure Eren was still in the bathroom before answering, “I called the kid hot on accident.”

He eyes got really wide and he stared at me for a long moment then kneeled over laughing.

A large hand slapped on the countertop and he slowly pulled himself up, “Seriously Levi??”

I looked away sheepishly, “I didn’t think I was saying it out loud.”

Suddenly his demeanor was serious; he leaned closer and spoke, “Listen, I’ve noticed you two getting closer recently, and you know Hanji and I ship it so you can’t go fucking this up by saying stuff like that, you’ll scare him away- he’s like a shoujo maiden.”

“...Huh.”

“Have you seen that kid blush.”

“Erwin, what??”

He frowned and gestured at his cheeks, “He blushes like a schoolgirl from an anime-”

“What the fuck are you even talking about?! What you do mean you and Hanji are shipping this??”

He opened his mouth to speak then suddenly paused and patted my shoulder, “You should get some rest.”

Then walked away.

I was about to follow him when I noticed a puppy-like head tilt in the corner of my eye.

Eren had emerged from the shower and was drying his hair.

“You okay, Levi?”

I sighed, inwardly thanking Erwin for changing the subject so quickly, and nodded, “Yeah, just tired.”

He tugged the towel down and smiled softly, “Yeah it’s been a long day. Let’s just go ahead and get to bed.”

I walked passed him to my room and agreed. He hesitated for a moment before stumbling after me, “Where do you want me to put this towel?”

“Just toss it on the counter in the bathroom for now,” I looked at him and raised an eyebrow as I headed towards my closet to change, “Your hair’s not dry yet.”

He came out of the bathroom and trotted back into the room, careful not to look at me as I changed, “Ah...is it a problem?”

I decided to simply change into a pair of boxers and a tank top. Might as well show off my own muscles. Maybe test out if Eren really did blush like a schoolgirl.

He was sitting on the corner of the opposite side of the bed with his back to me, sitting up straight and his shoulders slightly hunched up. His hair was slowly dripping. What an idiot.

I grabbed a towel from a nearby dresser and climbed on the bed behind him.

He turned at the sudden movement but I turned him around and began drying his hair before he could protest.

“You’ll catch a cold like that. Not to mention you’ll get the pillow and sheets wet.”

“Ah, okay…”

He sat still and we quietly stayed like that for a while.

But…

Goddamn was his hair soft.

I even purposely took longer than necessary to dry his hair just as an excuse to play with it. I don’t know if he noticed. If he did he didn’t say anything.

After a few minutes I sighed and sat back, “Okay, you’re good.”

I tossed the towel back onto the dresser and crawled back to my side of the bed.

Eren was still nervously sitting on the bed but he had turned slightly as if considering lying down.

I grabbed the remote from the table by the bed and handed it to him, “Here you can watch some tv until you fall asleep if you want.”

His face lit up a little, “Ah! What...do you want to watch anything?”

I shook my head and began to bury myself in blankets, “Nah, I’m going to sleep.”

~~

Much to Levi’s disapproval I ended up watching Mean Girls.

He had gone to sleep long before I was ready to. I mean by the time I got to the winter talent show he was already dead asleep.

I glanced at him for a moment then quickly turned away blushing even though he was asleep.

He was acting awfully strange. He saw me shirtless earlier and said ‘hot damn’ then played with my hair later. He probably thought I thought he was drying it. Nope, I noticed.

I mean. I don’t know. I kind of thought that he possibly liked me? But he didn’t seem like he would?? But Armin put forth liable evidence that Levi does like me. Apparently Levi treats me differently than he treats others and always seems happier in my presence I don’t know.

What does Armin know he’s never even really had a relationship.

But that said...Levi did seem nervous about me staying over and...argh.

I turned the tv off and decided to sleep. I needed to sleep the frustration off and I’d wake up with the situation cleared up.

I realized that would not be the case shortly after deciding that though.

Levi grunted and shifted a little so I assumed he was a restless sleeper, but then he started panting.

That’s where I really started to panic. Was he having a naughty dream?? Was he going to moan someone’s name??? Would it be mine?????

I was about two seconds from running out of the room to visit Hanji when I heard him whisper, “I’m sorry…”

I curiously turned to him and leaned over a little to see his face then he turned towards me almost angrily with a tight grip on the blankets.

His expression automatically made my face soften. His jaw was clenched and he was actually crying a little.

I watched sadly and carefully brushed his bangs out of his face. What kind of nightmare could he have had…

I’d never seen him cry. Or come close. Or be sad.

Seeing him so vulnerable was shocking. And concerning.

I rested my chin on a hand and wiped a tear away. It was the least I could do; you’re not supposed to wake up someone who’s having a nightmare, right?

He mumbled something I couldn’t understand. I caught the word ‘squad’ and my own name.

I started panicking for some reason. I wasn’t really weirded by the fact I was in his dream but…

I gently shook his shoulder and called his name quietly, “Levi.”

He woke up slowly, which caught my attention.

He had incredible reflex speed, so waking up slowly was weird. I remembered Hanji told me a story before about trying to prank him in his sleep and he was immediately on them prepared to chase them out- he was a light sleeper.

His right eye fluttered open first and after seeing me he groaned softly and opened the other eye.

“You were having a nightmare…”

It occurred to me that it may not have been a nightmare.

See, Levi and I have a rather ‘far-fetched’ suspicion- something that didn’t seem possible but we were beginning to think it may have been.

Reincarnation.

“They died,” he whispered.

It would explain the weird behavior between Erwin, Hanji, Sasha and Connie (and technically Gunter too).

As well as Mina’s seemingly unrelated comment and my weird nightmares.

He groaned again as he rolled onto his back and covered his eyes with his forearm, “It was my fault.”

Somehow I sincerely doubted that.

Anyway, this reincarnation thing was very odd. We’d never actually flat out talked about it...but it was times like this when we just both knew we were thinking about it.

“Gunter...Erd...Petra...Oluo...dead.”

I gulped nervously and finally spoke up, “How did they die?”

He lifted his arm a little bit to look at me. His gaze was intense and his eyes were narrowed, “A friend of yours. I don’t know her. I didn’t know her until that point earlier either.”

I didn’t answer.

A friend of mine?? Killing Gunter, Erd, Petra and Oluo????

That seemed...bad, to put it lightly.

After seeing I had no idea as to who it could be, he covered his eyes again and sighed, “What are we going to do Eren?”

I fell onto my back and laid beside him, “I dunno.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here's tha sleepovaaaaa which some of you may have known about idk who's actually watching for spoilers on tumblr but i wanna do more of those
> 
> anyhoodle levi is officially on the same train as eren now.  
> but who, oh who, could possibly be this dangerous friend???


	24. New Case

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> erens, then levis, then back to erens pov

“Levi!”

I hung on the door and peered into the room, “They’re having a meeting! Erwin says we have a ‘case’.”

He spun around in his chair casually to face me, “Why the emphasis on ‘case’?”

“I guess we’ll find out at the meeting,” I answered.

He gave his laptop one last glance before getting up and following me out.

A majority of the group had gathered in the main office room and the rest were still entering.

Erwin sat down on a desk and let a folder flop down beside him, “So we’ve been given an anonymous tip today.”

“That’s a first,” Levi snorted.

“Are we the ghost police or something?” Jean added.

Erwin nodded and pointed at the folder next to him, “Yes, it’s definitely strange, but we’ve found several claims online for the same location all stating they experienced similar things, so we thought it might be a good chance to get the whole group working on a case.”

Everyone kind of just shrugged and nodded. Sounded like a good plan. Nothing really more to it.

The silence got awkward after a few moments though.

“The Shiganshina Pier,” Erwin started, “There’s a parking area attached to it that has five levels with a sixth level for the intent of viewing the ocean from a higher point. There are several accounts of people seeing someone at the top level suddenly jump off, but there’s never a body at the bottom.”

The awkwardness suddenly disappeared and was replaced with a bit of excitement. The newer people all looked at each other curiously as if to ask if they had any idea as to what was going on and the more experienced members looked at each other in deep thought as if they were silently discussing what it could be.

I stared at the ground with a frown.

I’d always loved the ocean. It was weird to imagine anyone committing suicide while looking at such a thing. But at the same time, what beautiful scenery to die before…

I looked at Levi in the corner of my eye and found him also looking at the floor.

He noticed me watching him and shook his head, “I don’t like suicide cases.”

“Ah…”

“My uncle commit suicide when I was a teenager,” he sighed and stood a little straighter, “Why do you seem glum?”

I frowned and turned to watch as the others scattered and got ready, “I quite like the beach.”

~~

 

He meant it when he said he liked the beach.

It was just the two of us in the car so I was a little more relaxed than it would have been if Hanji was there or something.

I didn’t even remember how everyone split up exactly, I was just glad we were alone.

When we arrived at the pier he was obviously ecstatic.

He leaned forward in his seat and looked around excitedly then once I finally parked then gave him a nod, he ran out and up to the top level to get a better view.

I got out and joined the others, leaving Eren to his own devices, and they all watched and laughed at him.

“Somebody go after him,” Ymir suddenly called.

Mikasa wordlessly obeyed immediately while the rest of us turned to Ymir in confusion.

The expression on her face scared me shitless. She looked anxious behind her poker face as she stared at Eren’s form running away.

Due to how grave she seemed, I decided to take off after Eren, too. Or rather, my feet did. I seemed to have no say in my actions.

Hanji ran alongside me and tried to hypothesize what could be happening.

“If there’s a spirit up there that Ymir...saw...it could be trying to convince people...or spirits I guess...to jump, y’know?”

I decided not to reply and instead to focus on reaching the highest level where Hanji was suggesting Eren might jump from.

“Or, if it’s a...demon or something strong...they’re pushed?”

Or be pushed from.

Mikasa reached him before me and Hanji did, and thank God for that, because he was leaning dangerously far over the banister when she pulled him away.

~~

When I reached the top I ran out to the edge of the platform and looked out at the sea.

It was so beautiful I wanted to puke! Well, I wanted to puke because for some reason it made me feel sick, but also because it was so magnificent.

I would never be able to get over my fascination with the ocean. Never ever ever ever.

There was a man on the top level too who laughed, probably at my excitement.

I turned to him, still breathless from my sprint, and smiled, “Isn’t it beautiful?”

When he turned to me my heart stopped. A million red lights went off in my head and there was no obvious reason as to why. I decided to try to stay calm and listen to my instincts.

He didn’t seem suspicious. He wore a hoodie over his head and that partially hid his face but besides that, nothing seemed off.

With such a shocking impact on my body I also had to consider the possibility of him being a spirit. Damn, I hated the fact my powers were ‘so weird’ that I couldn’t tell human from ghost.

“You always wanted to see the sea,” he stated warmly. He didn’t look very warm at all, though. He looked sad and sick.

I didn’t recognize him at all though. He must have mistaken me for someone else.

“Did you ever get to see it, Eren?”

Apparently not.

I took a hesitant step back and desperately tried to send telepathic messages to Mikasa for help, “Um...yeah, I’ve been here a few times.”

He chuckled and leaned over the banister to look down at the ground, “You don’t even remember do you? I see you brought everyone.”

Something about the way he gripped the bar made me nervous, “Thomas, you should stand back, it’s dangerous.”

He didn’t move away, but he gave me a curious look, “Oh, you do remember?”

I blinked a few times as I realized that I had called him by his name. Or what I assumed his name was or...how did I come up with ‘Thomas’ so suddenly?

“Sorry you look like someone-”

He cut me off, “-that you used to know, I get it. You just don’t know who?”

I looked down and tried to think quickly. All I knew was that he knew about me (and seemingly everyone else too), he was suspicious, and I didn’t know if he was living or not. If he knew about us, was he perhaps a friend in that possible past life?

What would Annie say to do.

“Eren?”

My head snapped up to find him in a not so comforting position.

“Please make this the last time we see each other here.”

And then he jumped.

I ran forward and tried to grab him but it was too late.

I watched him fall as if I could somehow stop him with my mind.

His body made a loud slap against the concrete.

“Eren!”

Suddenly Mikasa was behind me, pulling me away from the edge. I struggled against her, calling out Thomas’s name as if I could stop what happened.

For some reason his death enraged me. I could feel myself hitting Mikasa, possibly even hurting her, but I was so furious I couldn’t help it.

Hanji ran up and helped Mikasa pull me away, and in my last glance at the ground I noticed Ymir was the only one staring at Thomas’s body.

Immediately after noticing that important detail, Levi swung his leg into the back of my knees and forced me onto the ground.

Hanji and Mikasa watched intently as Levi held me down and I tried to calm myself.

Eventually I sighed and tried to wiggle out of his grasp, “I’m okay now…”

Levi hesitated for a moment, then reluctantly released me.

I pushed myself up to sit on the back of my heels and glumly rubbed my cheek. I knew he threw me down because it looked like I was going to jump from his perspective but was doing it so harshly really necessary?

After a minute Levi pulled me up so I was standing and stared at me with an unreadable expression. It looked sort of like concern, but like he was trying to hide it.

“They’re coming up,” Hanji announced.

Hanji was leaning over the edge of the platform just slightly to watch the people below.

They waved me over, and with a withering glance from Levi, which I assumed was permission, I went to look at the group with Hanji.

They pointed at the ground and looked at me excitedly, “Where is he? Or can’t you see him anymore?”

I reluctantly looked down to find Thomas was still there.

“He’s...by the edge of the curb next to the grass...right about there.”

I could tell Hanji trying to imagine what it looked like.

“Is he on his back or on his stomach?”

“...stomach.”

They frowned and leaned back from the banister, “Is there blood?”

I grimaced, “No.”

Their eyes widened and they turned to our right and yelled for Moblit to hurry up. No doubt he probably had Hanji’s notebook and they needed to write down the new info.

I was sick of staring at Thomas’s body so I turned around which was apparently a bad idea.

The Ackermans were both staring at me with the same, cold, unwavering gaze.

Hanji also whacked me and scolded me for looking away; they wanted to know when his body would disappear- if it would.

Surprisingly, Levi was the one to stand up for me.

“Oi, give him a break.”

“But science-”

“Hanji-”

“Hey, ghost-dude just disappeared!” Ymir shouted. Hanji shrieked and dashed to Moblit for their notebook.

I turned to Levi to thank him but he was walking away already.

Erwin leaned down as Levi approached and whispered something in his ear.

Armin ran over slightly panting and whacked my head, “You idiot!! If we’re on a case you have to be careful with what you do for as long as you can’t identify a spirit, did you not learn that after the Carolina’s case?”

“Ow- stop it!” A second blow came to the other side of my head from Jean which prompted my swatting at him. “Hey I figured out it was a ghost this time, lay off!”

There was a sharp intake of breathe from Armin and he motioned for Jean to stop, “Wait what? Really?”

I noticed Erwin and Levi stop talking for a moment to look at us. Okay bosses are watching time to look smart.

“Ymir was the only one watching him so…”

“Ah…” he shrugged and glanced at Hanji who nodded and continued scribbling.

After a minute of us waiting for Erwin and Levi to stop quietly discussing the situation, Erwin cleared his throat and turned to all of us, “Well, I’d say we’ve got a new case.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh hoh hoh  
> so eren is learning aight then  
> im gonna update again tomorrow because why not  
> its pre written anyway and im feeling crazy lets do this


	25. Who Were You With?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> all erens pov

The headquarters was buzzing again, but this time with excitement in the air. For all of the newbies, beside the ones that got to work on the Carolina’s case,  it was their first case and each of them were ready to be ghostbusters.

Levi scoffed at the optimism in the air then shuffled back towards our office confident that I was trailing behind him. Which I was.

He plopped down in his chair ready to contact a list of people Erwin had given to him and pursed his lips, “Maybe you should lay low on this case.”

I considered it for a second, grasping at what he was suggesting, and was slightly insulted.

“Hey, I’m not dumb. I’m not just a useless baby, I’m not gonna jump over the edge of the pier or anything, I told you figured it out so I-”

He raised his hands and waved at me to shoosh, “Hey, hey shut up. I didn’t mean that you would be dumb enough to be lured to your death or anything. I was just keeping in mind something I discussed with Erwin and Mike the other day.”

He turned back around to his laptop and I, knowing him well enough, waited for him to continue.

“We’re considering the possibility that your lack of control over your talent attracts spirits. And if that’s the case, this spirit at the pier that’s been presumably pushing people- if it’s a different person seen falling every time- then you’d be a pushing target.”

Attracts spirits. Sounded awfully similar to what Annie predicted.

“There was a lot of what-if factors in that.”

He sighed and glanced at me over his shoulder, “Ugh, Eren, point is I don’t want you to get pushed is that so hard to understand?”

I avoided his glare and pouted my way to my own desk. I would have kept arguing that I knew better and would have been careful but I figured it was best to let him have the last word.

There was an awkward silence after that. For like ten or fifteen minutes. He hadn’t actually given me a task and I didn’t know of anything that needed tending to so I sat there and stared at books on the shelves contemplating if I should alphabetically organize them.

“Eren?”

“Hmm?”

“How do you...want to...develop your abilities?” he asked slowly.

Confused by his rather timidly spoken question I turned to see his expression before answering.

He was watching me intensely, watching for my own expression. Regardless he was obviously unsure about something.

“What do you mean?”

He chewed on his bottom lip for a moment before going on, “...Well you’ve gotta get a hold on your talents somehow. I just don’t know how to go about trying to achieve that.”

There was an undeniable hint of concern in his voice.

“Oh, it’s fine I actually-...” Whoops.

He raised an eyebrow and suddenly I was incredibly scared.

“You actually what, Eren?”

“I...I was...getting help....”

“How.”

“Well-”

A look of recognition crossed over his face for a brief second and he stood up, “More importantly, from whom were you receiving help?”

“A friend,” I answered quietly.

“Well either it was Ymir or it was a suspicious person you shouldn’t be going to for help,” he replied dryly.

I noticed him clench his fists and looked back up to his face worriedly, “Levi, what-”

“You can’t just go off trusting anybody eren, especially not with this particular issue-”

“Levi!”

He stopped his ranting and frowned, surprised by my outburst.

“Why is this such a big deal?!”

His face went blank and he tilted his head like a confused kitten.

“I mean, I realise it’s probably important you understand what I was learning but you’re freaking out a bit.”

He made a sad frown and looked down, ‘After the Carolina’s case, that weekend you were supposed to be resting- who were you with?”

“...A friend.”

He sighed again and crossed the room towards the futon, “I’m sorry.”

I was very confused as to what happened and simply froze.

He patted the spot next to himself and glanced up at me, “Who is this person?

I hesitated before crossing the room to join him and decided to just answer honestly, “Annie... She’s a medium.”

He frowned and stared down at his hands, “She gives me a bad feeling.”

“How…? You haven’t met her, have you?”

“Sasha...she told us that you were with her that day. She doesn’t sound like a good thing...and I can’t help but suspect she has something to do with...y’know.”

Annie? He thought we knew her in our past lives? Well I guess that would explain how I weirdly trusted her so fast.

“What do they think is bad about her? She’s a good friend. I mean, she looks really mean but she’s not.”

He shook his head and sat back a bit, “How does she look mean?”

“Well she’s small, and really pale and she has this resting bitch face and these icey cold eyes that make you wanna lay down and die when she glares.”

“...What’s her last name?”

“L...Leonhardt.”

He said nothing for a while then stood up and wordlessly walked out of the room while covering his mouth.

I sat back and crossed my arms. Well that made no sense? I had no idea what had happened.

But when my phone buzzed and I opened a new message from Annie I couldn’t help but feel a bit...uneasy.

On one hand I wanted to stand up for Annie, I mean she had done nothing wrong. She was a good friend.

But on the other hand, a warning from Levi and the fact Sasha had apparently made her seem bad also needed to be highly accounted for. Whatever they said needed to be taken seriously.

_aye nerd next lesson is tomorrow at 9pm at the old hospital down by winchester road. this time we’ll be prepared, ive got backup_

Well.

Levi asked me to lay low during the case anyway. I’d have some free time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im so sorry i didnt update yesterday like i said! im having a really bad time guys...
> 
> anyhoodle I realised we're actually in not pre-written territory now. all the stuff i didnt finish because school and a con fell on my face with the force of 5 elephants.  
> but since ill need to get back to writing i'll ask for help with little things on tumblr. i already have the rest of the plot figured out so these little things id be asking for help with would be stuff that mainly have to do with symbolism or opinions- not really anything that would affect the plot because that would ruin the surprise.
> 
>  
> 
> EDIT  
> im sorry about that last line being bolded, archive keeps doing that to all of my chapter and i dont know why? i try to edit it before i post it but sometimes i forget im sorry guys!  
> also sorry about annies text not being italicized so you could tell it was a text  
> p.s. after editing that i realised eren pretty much described levi when he described annie im laughing


	26. The Backup Dudes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> all erens pov
> 
> pls pray for these children

“Okay, I just want to point out that last time you tried to take me to a ghost hot spot and it didn’t turn out nicely. So now what do you do? Pick an even worse spot,” I called as I approached her car.

She tilted her head and closed her door as the back doors of her car started to open, “Huh? I told you I’ve got backup this time.”

Two men emerged from her car. They were both pretty big so Annie looked like a dwarf beside them.

One was blond and looked kind of mean. The other had dark brown hair and looked, frankly, a little sweaty.

The blond grinned and reached a hand out to me, “Hi I’m Reiner. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

I took his hand a little hesitantly and smiled politely, “Have you?”

I felt endangered with those two. Red alarms were going off in my head and that annoying itch had come back and I couldn’t help but suspect they had done something gravely bad in my past life. If that even was the case.

He nodded and chuckled, “Yes, Annie’s told us about your clumsy dorkiness that caused some issues in your shenanigans.”

“‘Caused’?” I glanced at Annie accusingly.

She shrugged. Reiner pulled his hand back and stroked his chin as if he were in deep thought.

“Yes, I believe she said you were desperate to try on some dresses and accidentally ended up at the graveyard then you chased down a dangerous entity trying to steal its dress.”

The sweaty dude took my hand and shook it gently, “He’s just kidding. I’m Bertolt.”

Annie came to my side and patted my back, “Alrighty then, now that we’re all introduced, let’s go in, shall we?”

I followed as they turned and started towards the building.

“Hey, how are we supposed to get in?” I was kind of hoping there was no way in so they’d decide to leave and I could run away.

Reiner winked at me over his shoulder, “Don’t worry, we’ve got this.”

I frowned a little and glanced at Annie. She shrugged again then looked ahead again.

“Are you two mediums also?” I asked.

Reiner snickered loudly and Bertolt laughed quietly into his hand.

“What else would we be as ‘backup’?”

“Ghost hunters,” I mumbled awkwardly.

They laughed again then said nothing until they reached the front doors of the hospital. Bertolt tried the doors but were locked. I watch expectantly as Annie and Reiner walked down the front steps and around to a window.

“Aww, please don’t tell me we’re breaking and entering,” I groaned.

Reiner crouched down as Annie pulled her sleeves up to her elbows.

“Not breaking,” he grunted.

Annie took a step back then jumped onto his shoulders in one swift move. Reiner brought one hand to hold onto her right ankle then slid one hand up to support the back of her left leg. He then took a step forward towards the wall.

“Holy shit,” I whispered.

When she reached up, she barely reached the ledge of the window on the second floor, which I noticed was either open or already broken.

She grabbed onto it and lifted herself up then into the room and disappeared. Reiner brushed off his shoulders then came back to wait with Bertolt and myself.

I laughed awkwardly and tried my best not to oggle him, “So, you guys are kinda strong, huh?”

“I guess,” he rubbed the back of his neck as we waited, “Though the hardest part about that was all on Annie. She had to pull all of her body weight on my shoulders which is very high compared to her even with me crouched down, and then she had to balance. I did practically nothing.”

I nodded and made a mental note to not get on Annie’s bad side. I vaguely wondered if I had already made that note.

The door opened and Annie ushered us inside.

There was a hallway on either side of us, a desk straight a head, two more halls that extended to the right and left next to the desk, and a set of stairs that descended from the left of the desk. That was all we could see from the entrance.

Annie shuffled through some scattered paperwork on the desk and sat on top of it as Reiner and Bertolt began poking around at the hallways directly beside us.

“Well, where to first Eren?” Reiner called from the first room on the left.

“Huh?”

Annie glanced at me and raised an eyebrow but said nothing.

Reiner poked his head through the doorway, though I could barely see him since it was dark inside the building, “You’re leading us tonight.”

Bertolt joined me in the center of the halls and turned to Annie, “Did you see anything while you were up there?”

Annie hopped down from the counter and stuck her hands in her hoodie’s pocket, “A shadow man. Nothing else.”

Ah a shadow man. That I could identify (thank you Armin)! It was a black figure that lingered in shadows. They rarely hovered long enough to be seen- normally you only see them in the corner of your eye then they disappear. They were pretty harmless.

Her hands came out of her pocket holding a large flashlight and a mini flashlight. She handed me the larger one and the little one to Bertolt. Then she shuffled off towards Reiner, “Hey, you’ve got the other set of flash lights right?”

Annie’s and Reiner’s voices died down to quiet murmurs as she retrieved the flashflights. Bertolt flipped his on and scanned the surrounding area.

“Wow, it looks creepier with a flashlight.”

I smiled and turned mine on to do the same. My light covered a larger area so he turned his off and we looked around together.

The walls were a little dirty but not gruesomely disgusting. The desk was pretty gross though. Most of the doors in the hall hung open, any that were closed weren’t visible from our distance. Random IV machines and chairs sitting in the hall all by their lonesome, and even a gurney was waiting for us at the end of a hall. Very little light from the street and passing cars passed through the windows in the rooms along the hall, so we could see a little bit without the flashlights- enough to get around at the very least.

The color scheme was purple and brown. The area looked blueish and purpleish when it was under the light from the outside, but when it was under the light from our flashlights it looked brown. It was creepy.

Besides looking creepy, the place felt it too. I hadn’t seen anybody besides our group (yet) but it still felt eerie. It was like a haunted house almost; I half expected to move my flashlight up the slightest bit and see a dark figure standing there only to have the flashlight turn off in an instant due to ‘technical difficulties’.

I felt a disturbingly intense cold chill across my neck and jumped into the air with a yelp. Bertolt and I turned around quickly and found Annie with a proud smirk. Reiner stood behind her shining a flashlight at the stairs.

“Is that where you came from Annie?”

“Yeah, there’s another set of fours halls up there like this one. Except no desk.”

Reiner frowned and moved his light to reveal the ceiling as though he could see through it (though honestly, maybe he could), “Is there just a wall there instead of the desk?”

“No there’s a window. I think it’s a window to one of those rooms where you could watch surgeries happening but it was too dark to say for sure,” she answered.

“Let’s not go to that room,” I suggested.

Reiner barked out a laugh, “More like, let’s save the best for last.”

There was a crash. We turned off our flashlights immediately and went silent.

After a minute Bertolt turned on his small light and pointed it at the hall to our right.

There was another loud crash, then it became quiet and slowly grew louder.

Reiner stepped forward in front of all of us and shined his light down the hall, too.

Something was coming down the stairs at the end of the hall.

After a minute a chair slammed off the bottom stair and into the wall across the hall from it and we all jumped back. We held our breaths waiting for anything else.

It was silent.

Finally, Reiner laughed in relief and turned back to us, “I think they know we’re here,”

“Reiner,” Annie called out warningly.

His face froze and he stopped talking. Probably stopped breathing too, I assumed none of us were breathing.

There was a faint squeaking sound...coming from the right, yet again.

We turned to the right and watched as the same chair started turning.

I didn’t want to look at what was turning it so I kept my gaze low and at just the chair.

“Red aura,” Annie called.

“I’m not getting anything from it,” Bertolt replied, his voice filled with concern.

The chair jerked forward towards us.

“Eren,” Reiner started, “You wanna take care of this?”

I looked up at him in shock, “What do you mean?”

“You heard Bertolt, it’s a demon. And last I heard, you’re the demon specialist here.”

The wheels on the chair squeaked loudly in protest as the chair moved towards us, but I still refused to look at it.

“When did Bertolt say that?!”

We all started inching backwards as if the chair was suddenly going to fly through the air and attack us. Wouldn’t be completely surprised if it did though.

Annie put a hand on my arm, “If Bertolt can’t communicate with it then it’s not a spirit.”

I turned to her a little angry, “Are you telling me the first thing to come at us is a demon?! How is that possible?!”

“You tell us demon-bait.”

The squeaking stopped and instead became a loud creaking that kept growing louder and louder at an alarming rate; the chair was moving towards us. I was turned away so I couldn’t see it, but based on what I could hear I knew it was moving fast.

A large arm slapped itself over my chest and shoved me to the ground (thanks a lot Reiner). Thankfully, it moved me out of the way of the demonic chair, but I was pretty sure I was going to have a bruise across my chest the next day.

I peered over the two bodies sprawled on top of me and caught a glimpse of the chair chaotically zooming past us.

We heard it crash long after it was out of sight so we each assumed it was safe to move. And by move I mean breathe and sit still for a few minutes as we waited for nothing to happen.

I would have moved but Reiner was covering half my body and Annie was on my legs so.

I was glad Bertolt had jumped the other way though, because if he had fallen on me I would have died- he was HUGE.

Reiner and Annie finally moved and started sitting up.

After brushing his shirt off he looked down and me and patted my chest, “Move faster next time.”

I rolled my eyes and stood up. As if I could have known a chair was going to come at us under the control of a demon.

“I’m gonna say this again Annie,” I grunted, “This is a bad idea.”

“It’s a learning opportunity,” she argued.

“It’s not safe,” I countered.

“We’ve got it covered, Eren, you don’t understand how powerful we really are.”

“Annie we’re up against violent demons, last time you couldn’t even see it, how can you possibly defend yourself? It’s too dangerous!”

“As if danger ever bothered you, Jaeger!! Where was that self preservation logic in Trost, huh? Where was it outside the walls?!”

Her yelling echoed against the walls in the hospital with my lack of a reply.

Nobody said anything for a moment and the air grew tremendously tense.

The eerie silence had returned.

Reiner and Bertolt were both staring at Annie with unreadable expressions. I stared with a confused expression.

Eventually, as I was about to utter a lame ‘what?’ she huffed and brushed her bangs out of her face.

“Bertolt, you and Eren look around down here for a while. Reiner and I will go check upstairs really quick then we can meetup and look around as a group again.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *pops knuckles and laughs maniaclly*  
> shits about to go DOOOWN son good fking luck hah
> 
> also, its just with this fanfiction that the last line keeps automatically bolding itself.  
> i started a series of Ereri shorts yesterday and made sure to check the last line- nothing. nothing was wrong. but then here today? last line was bolded. idk why.  
> ps go read my ereri shorts if u need something happy after reading about this demonic chair  
> (tho theres only 1 oneshot up rn)


	27. Shit Goes Down

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aforementioned shit goes down  
> all erens pov

“Hey Bertolt?”

He jiggled the lock on a door before looking at me over his shoulder, “Yeah?”

“Did Annie say earlier that it had a red aura?”

“Oh. Yeah she did, that means it has strong energy,” he answered.

I frowned and scrunched up my nose, “But before she told me she could tell the difference between the living in the dead by the fact spirits lacked auras. I mean, demons aren’t technically spirits but…”

He nodded understandingly, “Yeah. It’s like, huh how do I explain. Putting on glasses. She can see auras on spirits if she tries, and that’s like putting on glasses. Just seeing them as they are with no effort- no aura. Putting on her aura glasses- everything has auras. At least for her.”

“Oh.”

“Let’s go ahead and join them again,” he suggested.

We started for the stairs and I took one last glance at the downstairs hallways, “Uhh are you sure it’s okay to? It’s only been a few minutes…”

He shrugged and shone his flashlight on the stairs to reveal even more dirt, “Yeah. Looking around was just an excuse for Annie to cool down.”

“Oh yeah, what was she talking about? She called me a ‘trost’? Oh no, I was in Trost at some point according to her.”

He tensed up a little bit and provided no answer, so I continued to drabble on.

“And what walls-”

My breath caught in my thought as suddenly I remembered something I had a dream about and slipped.

Bertolt immediately knelt down and asked if I was okay but I was slightly distracted.

Walls. Trost.

Images from the violent dreams I’d been having appeared in my head and I had the sudden urge to flee and find anybody except the three I was with.

He put a hand on my shoulder and shook me gently but I instinctively pulled away from him.

I looked up at his hurt face and I just…

He was there, I knew him- I knew him. In our past lives he was there, I don’t know how or what happened but he was there.

As if to further prove it that itch I’d had since I met them felt slightly relieved.

Shit.

If that ‘itch’ was me trying to remember that I had known them

Then Mina and Thomas-

“Eren.”

Annie’s face popped up in front of me.

“Are you having a seizure or a heart attack or?”

“Should we take him to a hospital?” Reiner wondered out loud.

Okay think about it later. This wasn’t the time to dwell on that, we were in a dangerous place.

I coughed and tried to stand, “I’m fine I just...my ass ow.”

“Want me to kiss it?” Reiner laughed.

I smiled wearily and accepted Annie’s help to stand.

“Are you really okay though? What happened?” she asked.

I did my best shrug and looked away, “I don’t know, I slipped on something and I guess I was just...shocked by the impact or something.”

She frowned but said nothing else.

My heart was pounding so hard I almost wanted to backtrack and say I was having a heart attack. True, I was doing my best not to think about my newest piece of information but still.

I was panicking. I didn’t know what to do I was freaking out I needed

 

I needed Levi honestly.

“Well, let’s look around some then! Eren, take it easy though okay?” Reiner called as he walked off with Bertolt.

Annie linked her arm with mine and pulled me with her as she followed.

“You sure you’re okay Eren?”

I blinked a few times and nodded, “Uh, yeah, just sore. Why?”

She turned away and pretended to look through the rooms we walked by, “Auras can reflect feelings. Your’s has darkened.”

I laughed awkwardly and changed the subject, “Eh, wait. What color is my normal aura? And what does it mean?”

She glanced at the floor then at Reiner and Bertolt, “Your’s is silver...it’s very rare, I’ve seen very few silvers before. It means that you’re...unique. Your soul is wise.” She narrowed her eyes, “Old.”

Annie too.

She was there before and hinting that she knew about it.

“Uhm, well, what about Reiner and Bertolt?” I stuttered.

“Bertolt’s is blue. Reiner’s is red.”

“Ah, wait, didn’t that demon have a red aura too?”

She nodded and stopped us to join the other two who had stopped in front of a stairway, “Red auras are for those who have strong energy. That’s why he stepped in front of us earlier; if anything poses a threat to us, Reiner will take care of it.”

“Oh…”

Reiner nodded approvingly at her explanation and inspected the stairway with his flashlight but made to move to walk on it.

Annie brushed her bangs out of her face and continued, “My duty is to find. Bertolt assesses it, and Reiner takes care of it.”

I watched them carefully. It sounded like an extermination process.

“Hey,” Reiner started, “Where do these stairs lead?”

Annie shrugged.

They were oddly placed. The halls each had a set of stairs at the end that connected them to the other floor, and there was one set of stairs next to the front desk. These stairs were in the middle of a hall on the second floor.

“It goes deeper than the first floor,” Bertolt observed.

Reiner kneeled down as if trying to get a closer look at the bottom of the stairs, “Sounds like a basement.” He stood up again and turned to Annie, “Sensing any reason not to go down there?”

She was quiet for a moment before answering, “I’m not sure. There’s a lot here, but I can’t get anything specific. Everything’s sort of hiding.”

“Except for one of them,” I muttered.

None of them laughed. Not even a breathy chuckle.

“Well let’s head down,” Reiner finally decided.

“What’s the gameplan for any emergencies?” Bertolt questioned.

As they discussed I decided to look around us to make sure we were alone.

“Alright if there’s any need to split up stay in pairs. Preferably you with Eren, and me with Annie, just so our abilities are divided equally- Eren that means if you need to, you’ll have to get rid of something.”

I nodded and kept my focus on the shifting mass that lurked in the shadows. It was the shadow man Annie had seen; it was following us.

“If there is an issue, Annie and I will deal with it head on, Eren and Bertolt find a way for us to escape the situation.”

It stopped hiding in the shadows though. Instead, it opted to stare back at me. I started to get light headed.

“Are we all clear- Eren.”

Annie tugged on my arm, almost making me collapse, and scolded me, “Don’t stare at it, you aren’t supposed to look at them; that’s why you can only see them in the corner of your eyes and even then only in shadows.”

“Why...why not?” I mumbled. It was like it had sucked the life out of me just by maintaining eye contact; I thought those things were supposed to be harmless?

We started our way down the stairs.

“I don’t know. Normally you can’t look at them any longer than a second though. I do know that they have no auras what so-ever,” she explained.

“Even without your aura glasses?”

She made a small smile, “Even without my aura glasses.”

We reached the end of the stairs and opened the door to find a thin hallway.

Reiner narrowed his eyes and stared into the darkness for a moment before waving Annie forward, “Annie, you lead. I’ll help Eren if he still needs it.”

“Wait, shouldn’t Eren lead?” Bertolt interrupted.

I froze and my stomach dropped. Why should I lead. Why. Whywhywhywhywhy.

Reiner nodded, “Good point. Eren you lead, Annie will be a step behind you and we’ll be in tow.”

I sadly shuffled forward and took my spot and leader. It felt like school when the teacher asked you a question but you weren’t paying attention so you just kind of flopped on the floor and cried.

The thin hallway was fairly short and lead to a T-intersection. I decided to lead us to the right.

I tried to stay on my toes and be extremely careful about if I felt anything or not but...I felt nothing? Besides the eeriness I felt as soon as we walked in, I didn’t feel any weird like...ghost notifications or anything. Then again, I never did before. I guess I was relying sorely on eyesight.

The end of that hall had resulted in yet another T-intersection.

As soon as we turned towards the left though, I noticed a commotion behind myself.

Annie had suddenly stopped, and Bertolt didn’t run into her because he had fallen down at the same time.

They both gasped but Bertolt sounded like he was in pain.

Annie eyes were darting around in every direction and Bertolt was on one knee holding his head.

“What is it?” Reiner’s voice echoed in the halls very weirdly.

“There’s a lot down here,” Annie whispered, “I can’t see any yet but they’re here.”

“Psychiatric ward,” Bertolt wheezed, “The psychiatric ward was down here.”

Again, nothing felt different to me. I felt incredibly insecure about my abilities- so far they had done nothing. I would have appreciated being able to help but unfortunately I didn’t see any opportunity.

“Should we go back upstairs?” I asked Reiner.

Annie still looked distant and Bertolt was trying to gather his bearings.

“That’s up to you,” he replied.

“Bertolt?”

He took a second to breath and eventually stood up, “I’m fine, just give me a second to block them out.”

“What are they doing?” Annie suddenly spoke up.

“They’re yelling and chattering and just being loud.” He looked very annoyed.

And that’s when I got an idea.

I turned away from them and faced the other halls.

I called out to the spirits I couldn’t see, “Quiet down please.”

And I waited.

I turned to Bertolt, a little hopeful, and he was staring at me curiously.

“It stopped.”

“Holy shit…”Reiner muttered.

I tried my best not to smile. “Let’s keep going then.”

Annie grabbed my arm to stop me and pointed over my shoulder.

I dishevelled man in a white lab coat was standing several feet away from us, staring at us incredulously.

“What are you doing yelling at my patients?!”

Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuugh.

Bertolt stepped in front of me to speak with the spirit.

“Sir...are you a doctor here?”

The spirit blinked in confusion and waved his arm as if the answer was obvious, “Well yes!”

Whoa...an intelligent interaction- what was with that place? First we were greeted by an unhappy demon, then we saw a shadow man and then this?? It was completely unheard of.  Maybe they were right about me attracting spirits…

“What are you doing in my hospital?” it demanded.

“We mean no harm sir-”

“Get. Out.”

“Annie, what color?” Reiner growled.

We waited for an answer but it never came. We all turned to her and found her staring behind us with wide eyes.

There was a older lady standing there, in a nurse’s outfit, but the most concerning factor about her was the fact she was holding needles in her hands and looked as if she had been caught red handed.

It took me a second to figure it out, but I got it.

They thought we were supposed to be patients. The doctor was supposed to distract us and the nurse was going to take us down from behind.

See either this was something that had happened in their lives and they were re-living it, or they were just extremely and dangerously intelligent and we should basically give up altogether and run.

I personally thought they were just re-living the moment but we should still run.

“Could she...actually harm us with those?” I whispered.

Reiner cleared his throat and glanced back at the doctor, “I wanna say no, but at this point I’m not sure.”

Greeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaat.

“Okay I think we need to split, but I’m changing the game plan. Eren, go with Annie since she’s not doing so well in this environment,” Reiner ordered.

He was right. She looked frozen and I could tell she was very scared.

I grabbed her arm and slowly tugged her down the hall. The nurse was standing in the hall we had come from, so we were going to have to search for another way around to the stairs.

Reiner and Bertolt kept their backs to each other, Reiner watching the nurse and Bertolt watching the doctor.

Nobody moved or said anything as Annie and I inched away.

Eventually we were so far we could only barely see the light from their flashlights anymore and we actually bumped into a wall.

The next turn forced us to go right.

“Are you okay Annie?”

She marched on ahead of me, “Yeah. I was just caught of guard, I really don’t like the vibe I get from that nurse so we need to hurry up and get Reiner and Bertolt out of there.”

I nodded and stared at the countless number of faces we were passing in the windows of the doors. They either stared at us passively, stared pleadingly, or were violently trying to escape.

One door had no window at all. I didn’t want to know what was in there.

The end of the hall let to another intersection.

“Jeez it’s a maze down here,” I sighed.

She nodded and started off towards our left. We started running at some point, I’m not sure when.

We took a lot of turns I can’t even try to remember and I spent of lot of time wishing Sasha had been with us to tell us which way to go. Neither Annie or myself, were in any way psychic.

While we were running I noticed one of the halls we passed on the right had a glimmer of light in the middle of it. It was the faintest bit of light, but it was the light from the window in the stairs door.

“Annie!!” I reached forward to grab her hoodie and pointed, “Look, that must be the stairs!”

She stopped and sighed in relief, “Oh God, good. Here you go check and make sure the surrounding area is safe and I’ll go get them.”

She turned to leave and I stopped her again, “Wait, but we’re supposed to be in pairs, I’ll go with.”

She shook her head and waved me off, “They’re like in the next hall or something, it’s okay. Just go make sure nobody’s sitting on the stairs or something.”

I nodded and let her go.

I had a bad feeling about it though. She ran off and disappeared after a turn but I couldn’t help but wonder if she really knew where they were. We had made a right turn when we first entered, so she had run off to the left of that- we hadn’t been that way before. Everything on that side could be completely different. As well as Reiner and Bertolt could have moved…

I did my best to brush it off and obeyed my orders. I just had to make sure the stairs were okay then I could go help.

The stairs were clear. I went ahead and walked up them then opened the door just to be sure.

Everything seemed to be fine, it was all quiet.

After a moment of listening I heard footsteps. They sounded like they were running, so I thought at first it must have been them, but then I realised it was only one pair of footsteps.

Either Annie was returning alone or something else was coming. I couldn’t tell if it was coming from the basement or from the second floor of the normal hospital wing.

They were getting closer though, so I turned to check the second floor’s hall just to make sure nothing would pop up and push me down the stairs. At least if it was coming from the basement I could close the door if it wanted to attack.

As I left the doorway and walked out into the clearing though, I ran into somebody.

It was Levi.

I put a hand on his shoulder to keep him from falling due to the force of running into me and stared in shock.

He rubbed his nose and glared at me, “What the hell are you doing here?”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lol i just finished writing chapter 28 and good luck people GOOD LUCK that is action packed and ur gonna hate me shit. goes. DOWN.  
> maaaan we are almost done with this guys so close  
> i hope u know im killing myself trying to get this all out and done  
> but i do have a request for you guys  
> once chapter 31 is uploaded and all thats left is chapter 32  
> go back and read everything from chapter 1 up until then  
> idk i did that and its just  
> theres so much change? idk i just feel like  
> i re-read it all yesterday. and after now, having just finished chapter 28  
> SO much has happened. and idk itd be cool just do it nerds
> 
> :'D almost done! power through!  
> follow me on tumblr for spoilers cuz now that were almost done i wanna just pump out spoilers im gonna milk this out for all that i can and oMG saying 'pump' and 'milk out' in the same sentence was not a good idea im v srry
> 
> im so sorry for this rambling guys its two in the morning, i just worked almost 8 hours, 3 of which were overtime that was not expected, and i only do this cuz i write best when im delirious kay bye good night checking out of the building good night friends.  
> except not cuz im going to write some more oh my God ill seriously stop now how long have i been awake without food
> 
> wait wait one non rambling note  
> next chapter is long so buckle up. 3,600+ words (and it might go up after editing). that may not be long to some of you, but compared to my average of 1,500 word chapters it is p long
> 
> one more note  
> i just finished posting my tumblr warning that im updating and went ahead and added a spoiler for next chapter and im laughing i like to think im funny but you guys wont actually get it until youve read the spoiler AND chaptr 28. pls do both and laugh with me


	28. Shit Goes Down Cont'd

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> all erens pov

“L-Levi?!”

He scowled and grabbed my arm, “We’ll discuss that later, come on let’s go.”

“Wait- sir! I can’t-”  I tried to pull free of his grasp but DAMN he was strong

He stopped and stared at me in confusion, “What are you doing?”

“I’ve got friends in the basement sir! I have to find them, I can’t just leave them down there!”

“Those are spirits Eren.”

“No they’re friends, I came here with them- it’s that Annie I told  you about! Annie and two others!”

He nodded, “Well let’s go see the others that came with me first. Mikasa will want to see you, and they’ll help you find your friends.”

“Sir they’re in danger down there, I can’t just-”

I was interrupted by a scream. It wasn’t from the basement though.

“Ymir?”

He turned his head to listen but nothing else came. I followed him wordlessly after that. I had no clue why they happened to be at the same hospital when they were still working on the pier case but I was honestly relieved to see them.

We ran downstairs and headed to the front left hall. In the middle of it a group of people were standing outside the door of one of the rooms- not just any people, SPT people.

They all turned their heads when we approach and stared in confusion.

“Eren?” Jean called.

Mikasa jogged forward with Armin in tow to meet us and grabbed my other arm, “What are you doing here? You said you were going out with friends?!”

“He was,” Levi answered dryly.

He walked off to enter the room everyone was surrounding, and after a moment of staring at Mikasa, we followed.

Ymir was facing the farthest wall and was leaning against the wall with her forearm covering her face. She groaned as Historia stood beside her with worry painted on her face.

Levi, Armin and Mikasa all walked in with ease but I stopped at the doorway. There was nothing besides us in the room but I was hit by a wall of nausea and I did not want to enter it.

Everyone looked at me questioningly.

“Do you see something?” Armin asked.

I shook my head and backed up, “No, but I’m not going in there.”

“You might be able to help Ymir if you do,” Jean urged me.

“What’s wrong with her?”

She was just standing there doing the same thing.

“She’s been like that for twenty minutes. She won’t respond to any of us.”

Levi raised his hand towards me and waved me in, “Come on.”

I gave an exasperated sigh and obeyed. I didn’t want to, I felt sick and I still had to go get Annie, Reiner and Bertolt. I didn’t have time for this.

As soon as I stepped into the room though, everyone disappeared and the room lit up. It was suddenly sunny outside and the light that filtered through the rooms with windows came pouring into our room.

Ymir was still there, but she had moved. She was lying in a gurney groaning in pain. I stepped forward to try to talk to her and noticed she was bolted to the gurney and bleeding profusely. There was a deep cut on her wrist and a tube attached to it that led to a bucket that was quickly filling. I knew very little about old medical procedures, but I could tell this was the doctors trying to get the bad blood out of her.

That was why she wasn’t responding.

I ran forward to her and yelled her name, but a hand yanked me back.

I turned to look at them and found a large man in a lab coat holding onto the back of my shirt, “Who are you?” he huffed.

I broke away from him and tackled the straps holding Ymir down.

“Ymir, wake up, this isn’t real you need to get up,” I hurriedly explained.

She opened her eyes to look at me, and looked pleasantly surprised. She was about to say something when the doctor yanked me back again.

This time he threw me against the wall away from Ymir and shoved something sharp into my neck.

Oh God it was a needle oh God what did he put in me.

On a more optimistic note, Ymir was sitting up and freeing herself. She looked very pale and weak but I could see her planning on how to take down the big guy attacking me.

Just as she got to her feet and grabbed a sharp tool that was beside her, my legs gave out and everything got blurry.

I grunted and slid down the wall, with my only course of action to be sitting and watching until I would presumably passed out.

Ymir was about to jump on the dude in front of me, when a flood of nurses came in. I tried to warn her but I couldn’t move my arm and my voice failed me.

Ymir was swiftly taken down, only getting to barely injure a few nurses, and the big guy in front of me picked me up as if I was a limp doll. I heard him say something about talking me to the _other_ ward and hurrying back as he headed towards the door. Right before I was carried out of the door I got a last look at Ymir and she wasn’t Ymir. She was a small girl with red hair tied into two small pigtails. Then she was Ymir again. It kept going back and forth, as if the image wasn’t clear and couldn’t decide who it really was- like a glitch.

As soon as I was carried out of the door, the whole illusion disappeared all at once.

Levi was carrying me instead and he set me down in the hall. Him, Mikasa and Armin each kneeled down and surrounded me.

“Eren, are you okay?”

“Eren, what was that?!”

“Eren, answer me.”

“Eren.”

Unable to process what had happened, I coughed and pointed into the room, “Isabel- get Isabel, quick.”

Levi paled and glanced at the others, “Who’s Isabel?” he asked carefully, “Do you mean Ymir?”

“Get her out!” I yelled. I don’t know why I yelled.

Jean and Levi both ran into the room and a few seconds later they were carrying Ymir out of the room. Once they got through the doorway, she gasped and started violently coughing. She struggled and fought her way out of their arms, then stumbled away towards the other side of the hall.

“What the fuck,” she asked emptily. “What the fuck,” she kept repeating.

We were all silent as we watched.

She reached for the wall, touched it, then turned around and walked down the hall, but before getting too far she suddenly turned around and marched towards Levi.

“Who the hell is Farlan?” she asked wondrously.

He didn’t look scared by her towering over him, instead he looked confused and concerned, “Who?”

“Who the hell is Farlan?” she repeated.

He couldn’t answer.

Ymir turned to me and asked the same thing, as if I would agree with her on the matter.

I watched helplessly.

Historia gently touched Ymir’s hand, to which Ymir flinched.

After facing Historia, Ymir seemed to snap out of it and relaxed.

“What. The fuck,” she repeated one last time.

“What did you see in there?” Jean finally asked.

She glanced at the room, “I think...I think it was just memories from a patient that was in there.” Her eyes flickered to me, “Well...two.”

“I’m guessing they didn’t have such a hot time,” Levi sighed.

Ymir laughed bitterly, “Funny you should mention that. I don’t know what you have to do with this, but Isabel was thinking about you Levi.”

Levi furrowed his eyebrows, “What?”

Their conversation was brought to an end by the interruption of footsteps approaching. We turned to see Erwin, Hanji and Mike approaching from the right.

“What happened here?!” Erwin called.

“Eren and Ymir caught a glimpse of some patients experiences in that room...it was hard on them but I think we’re okay now,” Armin reported.

Erwin slowly looked at everyone, but his stare lingered on me, “Are you sure about that?”

I kind of wanted to laugh at that. I probably looked pathetic, I was all huddled up on the floor and still shaking, and heck, probably even really pale too.

I shook my head and tried to stand, “I’m okay, just a little-”

I slipped. Luckily, Mikasa caught me, but it would seem I wasn’t quite ready to stand yet.

“...shaky. On my feet.”

Erwin raised his eyebrows but said nothing else.

“Where’s everyone else?” Levi spoke up.

“They’re looking around. Marco, Sasha and Connie are still on the way,” Hanji answered.

Mike came to me and wrapped an arm around my waist to help me stand.

“So the ones that wanted us to come here are the last ones to arrive. Figures,” Levi scoffed.

I looked up at him, “Wait, why are you guys here? Why did they say to come?”

Levi sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, “We don’t know. They just said it was an emergency. For some Godforsaken reason, Erwin listened.”

“Eren, why were you here?” Erwin questioned.

I screamed inwardly and tried my best to look brave, “I was here with friends.”

He frowned, “Well, where are they?”

It felt like my heart had fallen into my stomach as I remembered.

“They...they’re in the basement. I was supposed to help them out but Ymir needed help.”

Erwin nodded, “Alright. Well let’s go find them then get out of here. Gunter’s group may have already found them for all we know.”

For some reason, that statement made my heart sink even further.

“Wait, who’s in Gunter’s group?”

He tilted his head, “Gunter, Erd, Oluo and Petra.”

I moved away from Mike and started towards the front desk, I felt the sudden urgency to find them. Suddenly Annie, Reiner and Bertolt were perfectly fine but I needed to find Gunter’s group.

“We need to find them.”

Everyone followed me without question. I led them up the stairs that were beside the front desk and told them to split up.

Ymir, Historia and Armin would check the second floor. The rest would go into the basement. I warned them that it was like a maze down there and that if they had any abilities to communicate with/see  spirits, then they were going to feel like shit.

None of them had brought flashlights, so they used their phones and that was good enough for me. It was imperative that we find them fast, but I didn’t know why.

As we passed the window that showed the surgery room on the way to the basement stairs, something caught my eye and I stopped.

There was someone in the surgery room.

Ymir saw it too, and apparently Levi and Mikasa, but nobody else knew why we had stopped.

They each shone their lights into the room in an attempt to see it but I wished they hadn’t.

The sudden attention made the entity in the room smile, and it was a very familiar smile.

The light from their flashlights and phones also revealed there was another spirit in the room with it, but not a demon. The other spirit was also familiar. His name was Hannes. Don’t ask me how I knew, I just did.

Hannes was about to die.

The smiling entity raised a box and showed it to the few of us that could see it.

“Are those matches?” Jean asked quietly.

Levi immediately looked away from the room and at Jean, “You see it?!”

Erwin nodded and watched the box intensely, “Levi we all see the matches. We can’t see what’s holding it but we see the matches.”

“Shit!” Levi backed up and started looking around the hall frantically. I didn’t know what he was up to, but Mikasa seemed to be on the same wavelength because she was doing the same.

I tried to focus on the smile and Hannes. I was about to remember something from before. I was about to remember something big, I could feel it.

The smiling entity opened the box of matches and pulled out a single match. Hannes did nothing.

“Eren, how do we get in there?!” Levi yelled.

I didn’t answer.

The smiling entity lit the match.

Levi ran forward and crashed into the window, falling to whatever was below.

Mikasa followed and they both quickly came into view in the center of the surgery room but they were too late. Hannes was on fire.

The first row of seats burst into flames, leaving Levi and Mikasa surrounded by a ring of fire.

I was suddenly aware of the panicking happening around me. Everyone was yelling and running around, trying to do something. Armin and Hanji ran downstairs to find a fire extinguisher. Ymir jumped down to the surgery room and helped Historia down- Historia was able to put out the fire with her abilities. Not a lot of it, but enough to make a clearing for Levi and Mikasa to escape.

Everyone was busy trying to help the others out of the surgery room, or put out the fire. Somehow, everything was moving very slow to me.

I looked to the right and saw the smiling entity standing at the top of the stairs that led to the basement. As soon as I noticed, it ran down into the basement.

It was laying a trap. It waited to single me out and wanted me to follow.

I did just that.

One phrase kept going through my mind as I ran- “This is my second chance.”

Levi had remembered that Gunter, Erd, Oluo and Petra each died early before. It was my second chance to save them. I couldn’t waste it.

The basement was cold. It was freezing cold. I started shivering as soon as I got down there.

“Petra?!”

“Eren!”

That was too easy.

I frowned and realized it came from behind me.

I turned and saw Marco hustling down the stairs.

“Eren we need to go, the building is on fire!”

“They’re down here Marco, we have to find them first.”

He swore under his breath and pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket, “Okay, who all is down here? I just got here with Sasha and Connie and they gave me this map, maybe it’ll help.”

“Petra, Gunter, Erd, Oluo, Annie, Reiner and Bertolt,” I recited.

The map did help. The basement was rectangular with thin halls that all led to the other side of the rectangle- basically Annie and I had been running in circles earlier.

“I don’t know who those last three are but I’m assuming if I see someone I don’t know down here, it’ll be them.”

I pointed at the bottom half of the map then to the hall on our right, “You check behind the stairs and I’ll check the other half. Meet up here as soon as possible. Yell if you need me.”

He nodded and promptly ran away.

I took off in the other direction.

After only about a minute of running, I saw of flash of someone running across the hall- and somehow I knew it wasn’t a spirit.

“REINER!”

I stopped and waited, then a few seconds later Reiner and Bertolt appeared at the other end of the hall I almost ran by.

“Eren! Where’s-”

“Get out! Just go up the stairs and get out, there’s a fire!!”

They looked at each other then back at me, “But Annie-”

“I’ll find her, just go!!” I yelled.

They nodded and ran off.

I ran around for probably five more minutes before the smoke started filling the basement.

“Marco did you find anyone-”

There was a loud crash. I stopped and immediately ran off towards where I had sent him.

The building must have been collapsing and he was directly under the main hospital.

I quickly found him pulling at some rubble with Gunter and Erd.

I joined them without a word and after a moment the rubble gave in to reveal Oluo uninjured.

We helped him out and I ushered them towards the stairs.

“Petra’s already upstairs,” Erd explained, “We sent her to go look for you guys so she’s probably out by now.”

I nodded, “If not, the others will have found her.”

“Did you find the other three?” Marco asked as they started up the stairs.

“Reiner and Bertolt. Annie’s still here somewhere.”

He nodded and came back to join me. Erd, Gunter and Oluo quickly ran off after giving us one last glance.

We left the stairs area because that was where the smoke was the heaviest and we started running again.

She wasn’t anywhere.

We looked through all the halls, split up to look in the rooms, met up again, agreed to start crouching down as we looked cuz the smoke was too heavy and did a second round.

“Is it possible she went upstairs already?” Marco coughed.

There was some cracking to our left and we jogged off towards another hall. Some of the rooms had started collapsing, even if they weren’t rooms under the main hospital.

“I guess...but I don’t...I know I’m not psychic in anyway, but I get the feeling she’s still down here.”

He nodded and reached over to look at the map again.

“We need to find her fast the smokes getting too thick down here…”

I looked around us nervously. The spirits all stayed in their rooms quietly, not even budging a bit. It was very unnerving.

“Well I guess we need to actually open doors now and look in small areas? Since we’ve only been looking through windows…”

And then I remembered. The one room without a window.

I snatched the map and ran off to our left, “I know where she is!”

He followed and we made our way to the very last hall and approached the room. That area was probably the safest to be since it was so far from the hospital the smoke wasn’t as bad and the rooms didn’t collapse yet.

I tried to open the door but it was locked.

“Shit…”

Marco pushed me aside and rammed himself against the door. After several tries, it finally started to give in and I was able to kick it open.

She was sitting against the farthest wall in the room very peacefully. Her head was tilted up as if she was staring at the cieling and it seemed like she didn’t even notice us.

It reminded me of when Ymir was in the other room, so I figured it was the same thing. And based on the barren solid white padded walls that surrounded her, the spirit’s memory that she was re-living was a relatively blank one.

I ran in and picked her up then shooed Marco out and let him lead.

It was hard to carry Annie, and run, and crouch down so she wouldn’t breath in any smoke, but I managed.

Okay, more like I sped walk.

When we reached the stairs Marco took her from me and carried her on his back. I assumed since she hadn’t woken yet, she would snap out of it once we left the psychiatric ward.

He stopped at the top of the stairs much to my confusion.

I tugged at his shirt impatiently, “Come on man I can’t even see the bottom of the stairs anymore we need to get out!”

“Why hasn’t anyone come for us yet Eren.”

I let my hand dropped and reached up to close Annie’s eyes; just trying to be nice and make sure nothing gets in her eyes while she was being dopey.

“What?”

“Nobody’s come for us, isn’t that weird?”

“Marco, you’re creeping me out, we need to GO.”

He turned to me, his eyes wide with fear, “The door won’t open. I think there’s too much rubble in front of the door- nobody has come yet because they can’t, it’s closed off.”

My heart fell to my stomach again.

“Move, let me try.”

We switched positions and I stood up straight to I could push against the door and also look through the window.

I tried ramming myself into it, but he was right, it wouldn’t open. I started to panic all over again.

I got close to the window and brushed some ash off of it to see through and immediately fell back with a yelp.

There was a familiar eery smile right outside the door. I’d bet $50 it was holding the door shut.

“What is it?” Marco wheezed.

“The..the demon that started the fire...it’s holding the door shut.”

It was beginning to get a little too hard to breathe, my panic levels were through the roof.

“Can you get rid of it?” he pleaded.

I shook my head, “Not that one...I don’t think it’ll listen to me.”

He put Annie down gently, no doubt too weak to hold her up. “Will...the other ones....listen?”

“...Yeah.”

“Tell them to move this one,” he suggested.

...Huh.

I did want it gone. And they did tend to listen to me, it was just the few rambunctious ones that didn’t.

The idea was perfect actually. Somehow I knew that it was going to work.

It was probable that we’d pass out before they actually moved it, but I knew they would.

So I did that.

I called out for help until it arrived.

Marco fell before me. I caught his head and prevented it from slamming into the side of a step. Annie was just as unresponsive and creepy as before.

Eventually that door opened. I wasn’t able to see who was there, but I got to see it open.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i feel like theres so much happening in this chapter that some of you might be confused im sorry
> 
> anyhoodle  
> now that youve read this chapter  
> pls go back and read the spoilers i posted and their tags ok


	29. I Just Knew

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i feel like this chapter is so sh i t t y  
> i think it's just because its not as face-paced as the last few. it's very laid back and calm.
> 
> anyway, erens pov, then levis, then a teeny bit of mikasa's at the end. i wonder why it would be mikasa's pov hmmmmm

I woke up to loud beeping. It was very obnoxious beeping. And I was in an even more obnoxiously bright room.

I tried to sit up and heard a faint ‘oh’.

As soon as my eyes recovered from being blinded by the light I realized I was in a hospital. Hmph.

The ‘oh’ came from Reiner who was standing in the doorway. It looked like he was just coming in, probably to check on me, and he had picked the moment I woke up.

Now you might think it’s weird that Reiner of all people was the one that was there when I awoke. Oh no, dear child. You are mistaken.

Asleep among the room, was Armin, Mikasa, Sasha, Petra, Erwin, Hanji, and surprisingly, Levi.

Levi had his head lying on the side of my bed while using his arms as a pillow, on my right side with my hand so close I could play with his hair.

Mikasa and Armin were in similar positions on my left side.

Erwin was sitting on a chair to my left which Hanji sprawled across his lap.

Sasha was sitting on the window seal with Petra ( it looked really pretty cuz the sunlight was really pretty I kind of wanted to take a picture).

After a moment of staring at each of them I turned to look at Reiner, “How long have they been here?”

As soon as I started talking, everyone’s head seemed to snap as they instantly woke up.

They didn’t say anything though. It’s almost as if they didn’t think I was really awake or they wanted me to confirm it.

Eventually Reiner cleared his throat, “Alrighty then, I’ll just go check on Marco then head back to Annie’s room if anyone needs me. Glad you’re awake Eren.” He smiled and winked, then left.

Nobody saw it though, they all just stared at me.

“...what? What’s wrong with you guys?”

Suddenly Hanji started screeching, “I thought you were deeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeead!”

Erwin leaned back and raised his eyebrows, “Wow, that horrible sound certainly woke me up.”

I chuckled and looked to the others, “How long have I been out?”

Mikasa immediately whipped out her phone and glanced at it, “Forty-four hours and four minutes. A very unfortunate amount of time if you’re Chinese….but that’s just since you got to the hospital, if you count how long it’s been since Levi found you then it’s abo-”

“Mikasa. Two days is a good enough answer.”

She nodded and left it at that.

“I heard Marco and Annie are here too? Are they okay?”

They each looked at each other as if unsure how to answer and that certainly didn’t comfort me.

Petra leaned forward and answered me, “Marco has some burns on his right arm and the right side of his face, but the doctors said within a little time he’ll heal up completely.”

“And Annie?”

No reply.

That scared me.

“She hasn’t woken up yet?”

“There’s a chance she never will,” Sasha spoke softly, “Connie saw that in a week from now they’ll declare her to be in a deep coma. Within two months they mention brain death to each other but Connie isn’t able to see if they declare her brain dead.”

Wow…

Well shit. My second chance to save them and one may never wake up.

Wait, who else was I supposed to save. And why was I saving them. Why was it my second chance.

I shook my head in an attempt to clear my thoughts but it caused a bit of unrest in the group.

“Don’t do that, you’ll hurt yourself.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Careful…”

“What...what exactly happened? I don’t remember it all…” I spoke slowly.

The air grew tense and they once again, glanced at each other before one spoke up.

“Well what do you remember?” Erwin asked.

I chewed my lip and looked up at the ceiling, “Uhhhhhhh...I remember going there with ...Annie. And...we ran into...Reiner and Bertolt while we were there I think? No, I ran into Levi.

Reiner and Bertolt...oh, they weren’t even there were they. No, okay sorry about that. Okay so after finding Levi...we went to find everyone else buuuut there was a fireI was stuck somewhere with Marco and Annie...that’s it. That’s all I’ve got.”

Somehow I felt chest tighten because of that. I mean, besides that I didn’t understand what happened, I was forgetting something big and I could feel it.

Levi sighed and drew circles in my bed sheets with his finger, “You arrived with Annie, Reiner and Bertolt. You explored as a group then separated in the basement. You found me, we had an incident after we met up with Mikasa, Armin, Jean, Historia and Ymir, then we met up with Erwin, Hanji and Mike. We went to look for your friends so we could leave then...then the fire started and you got separated from us. Marco found you and helped you find a few missing people which resulted in the both of you getting locked in the basement with Annie until I found you. You can ask for specifics from the people who were involved, but that’s a basic run-down.”

“Ymir doesn’t remember either,” Hanji piped up. “I think it’s because of the accident you two had in the first floor room.”

“When you guys say ‘accident’, what exactly do you mean?” I wondered.

Armin looked up at me glumly, his head not rising from resting on his arms, “You both were stuck in a trance of some sorts. You were re-living some memories of old patients there. Neither of you explained it at the time and since neither of you remember I guess we’ll never know.”

“But,” Erwin started, “You both did supply names, so we might be able to research those patients and find out what you two may have seen.”

I nodded then turned to Levi, “Why were we locked in the basement?”

He sat up and leaned back in his chair, “Beats me. But since you don’t remember, Annie is unconscious and Marco doesn’t remember anything about the basement either- it’ll just be a mystery for a while.”

~~

 

Once the doctors were alerted that I was awake, they came in to do a check up and asked a few questions which prompted the others to leave. Mikasa and Armin were able to stay since they qualified as family, and Levi stayed since he was my boss.

After an hour of chatting with the doctors and everything they decided I needed to stay for another two weeks just to be safe since my lungs were still recovering.

Once the doctors left, Mikasa and Armin also left to go get the four of us some dinner and check up on Annie and Marco. Levi stayed behind with me.

There was an awkward silence for a while.

Eventually when it became too awkward to bear I cleared my throat to speak. He looked up at me expectantly and waited.

“I don’t remember what happened. It’s very bothering.”

He smiled softly, “I imagine so.”

I shook my head, “No, not just that, I’m pretty sure I remembered stuff from our past life but now I don’t remember it.”

His face fell and he leaned forward a little, “How do you know?”

“I don’t it’s just… I’ve got this itch in my head like I’m forgetting something big and it gives me this bad feeling…”

He nodded and rested his chin on his hands, “I remembered some stuff too.”

I perked up at that, “Really?”

He grimaced, “Only two things. About your friend Annie.”

“Oh…”

He raised an eyebrows, “Do you want to know?”

“...yes.”

“Well, I know she was the friend that killed the others in that dream before. That’s most likely why I originally didn’t like her.”

WhAT. Annie…?

“And also, she sort of...I don’t know why or how? But she was encased in a crystal and never woke up. That was her ‘death’ before. And it looks like…” he trailed off.

“That might happen again,” I finished.

After a moment of more awkward silence, I spoke up again.

“But...this is like...our second chance at everything? I feel like she has to wake up or we have to help her somehow.”

“How exactly would we do that Eren?”

“I don’t know,” I grumbled. “Maybe...maybe if we remember it all. Or maybe if everyone remembered!”

“That sounds...a little far fetched Eren.”

I sighed and leaned back, “...you’re right. Ugh…”

He stood up and came to stand by my bed, “You should get some rest Eren. We just piled a lot of stuff on you.”

“Yeah that was mean. You should have just said I hit my head and everything was alright.”

He chuckled and gently inspected my hand. “It’s funny that you and Annie didn’t get any burns or anything but Marco got all scratched up.”

“Did he get burned while you guys were taking him out or was he already burned when you found us?”

“He was already burned. You three were lying on the stairs.”

He was checking to see if my hands were still scarred at all from the Carolina’s case. Or it was an excuse to hold my hand. Either way was sweet.

“Hmmm...yeah then it’s weird that he was the only one burned. Only only his right side so...I don’t know maybe his side was exposed to the fire and since Annie and I are smaller than him none of the flames reached us?” I tried.

He shrugged and looked up at me but still kept my hand, “Possible.”

I snickered, “Hell, if you were down there you would’ve been even better off than us. And you’d be so low that you wouldn’t even have had to worry about not breathing in any smoke.”

He smiled and gave my hand a squeeze, “Hey, if you want out of that hospital bed within two weeks then you’d better stop with the short jokes.”

He looked happy. I was really glad. It made my heart almost swell in a way? I don’t know his smile made me melt and he was smiling at me.

“How long have you guys been here?”

He pulled his hand away and ran it through his hair, “We’ve been here the whole time.”

“What?”

“Yeah. I mean, we sent a few people on a food run sometimes but since you aren’t in critical condition and it hasn’t been too long since you were admitted, we were allowed to stay.”

“We’ve got food!” Armin announced as he and Mikasa barged in.

“What’d ya bring?” Levi crossed the room to help carry them in the bags.

“We’ve got Paninis and macaroni and cheese and chips and fruit- two smoothies for Mikasa and myself, coffee for you Levi and hot chocolate for Eren,” Armin listed.

“Ooh, you’re angels,” Levi gushed. I watched as the three of them separated the food in harmony. It was really nice for some reason.

Despite everything that had been going on, I was really happy. And not just because they brought me hot chocolate.

~~

 

“He’s out again,” I grunted.

Eren slept peacefully on his hospital bed with his new teddy bear (given to him by Petra) sitting at his side.

“I’m gonna be out soon, too,” Mikasa predicted. That comment worried me, I’d seen her sleep with her eyes open before and that terrified me.

“Yeah, Mikasa I’m gonna go check up on Annie and Marco then we should head home,” Armin yawned.

She nodded and started to toss the last of our trash into a bag, “Okay. Go ahead.”

He left which awkwardly left us alone. Well technically Eren was there, but he was asleep so.

I decided it’d be best to say nothing until Armin returned.

When Mikasa finished tidying the room she stood with her back to me and did nothing for a moment.

Eventually she spoke, “Levi?”

“...Yeah?”

“Are you fucking my brother?”

“...”

I sat very still. Very very very still. Maybe she would forget I was there. Maybe if I was quiet enough I could sneak out, heck she was facing the other direction.

“Um...no?...Why...why do you...why did that…” I trailed off. I mean, I wanted to be but.

She shrugged the continued moving, “You should be.”

Again, I sat very still.

“...why didn’t you just ask if we were dating...why.”

“Because you like each other.” She glanced at me over her shoulder, “And I approve of you.”

Well I should hope you do, I am your boss after all.

“Thanks?”

She nodded and sat down again, “When are you going to leave?”

Oh right. I needed to leave at some point. To Shower. And get proper sleep.

“Not sure. I will at some point.”

She made a small smile, “If you want we can switch out in the morning.”

Haaaaah. Was I really that obvious about liking Eren.

“That would be good.”

She turned to watch Eren for a moment, then narrowed her eyes and turned back to me.

“Hey, Levi?”

“What.”

“Ymir is still mad at you, she just doesn’t remember why,” she hesitated, “Why was that patient thinking about you? Back when she was seeing those memories.”

I frowned and looked away.

“I honestly have no clue...they said their names were Isabel and Farlan...I mean those names ring a bell but I don’t remember how? And I certainly don’t know how they would know who I am, that hospital is old as balls,” I answered honestly.

She tilted her head, “Are they related to you maybe?”

I shook my head, “No, they were friends.”

She blinked and made a weird face. After a moment of think she seemed to get an idea and leaned forward, “How did you become friends?”

“We lived in the underground city together. Why does this matter?”

She stared at me for a long time before sitting back in her chair again, “No particular reason…”

 

~~

 

He wasn’t making sense.

Originally he had said he didn’t know this Isabel and Farlan, but then suddenly they were friends he had known? Something about it...seemed off, so I tried to learn as much as I could. For some reason I felt the urge to press on, there was something bugging me…

“So you’ve known Isabel and Farlan for a while?”

I tilted his head and looked at me quizzically, “How could I have known them, we already established that I don’t know them? Erwin said we could research them but until then I know nothing but their first names.”

I was a little torn between being mad and being curious. I was starting to get a little ticked that it didn’t make sense but I also wanted to understand.

He watched me thinking and furrowed his eyebrows, “What’s wrong?”

“I don’t understand what’s going on,” I admitted.

I had grown sort of fond of Levi over the past few days and he was slowly ruining that by annoying me in this confusing manner.

I didn't have much to say about him, but I did like him.

“What do you mean?”

“Something’s wrong with…”

Eren turned in his sleep and let out a soft groan.

Levi and I stood up at the same time and it just sort of happened.

I just suddenly knew. I _knew_ we were once the strongest soldiers in humanity. I _knew_ we once lived in a world fighting to live as anything but stock for titans to pick off.

I didn’t have to specifically think about anything, I just knew. I just suddenly knew everything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i have a spreadsheet  
> of every chapter and the basic lay down of whats supposed to happen in the chapter  
> then on the side there's either "writing..., written or done". obviously writing means im writing it, written means its written and done means it's been edited and posted to AO3 and looking at the spreadsheet now makes me see how far weve come like wOw we have 3 chapters left. 3.
> 
> idk what else to say, i guess sorry this update took a while ive been busy with work and im a host in a maid cafe so. and trying to deal with this chapter it just feels so SLOW after the last one. like a speeding roller coaster with twists and unexpected turns then it just stops suddenly and goes 5 miles an hour.


	30. We Know Exactly How You Feel

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the random mini hiatus?? i have no excuse idek how that happened  
> anyway, all levi's POV
> 
> almost there guys! we're almost done!

“...Those Godamned ASSHOLES,” I screeched.

Eren jumped awake and Mikasa was even taken aback by my outburst.

“Levi?” she asked hesitantly.

“Fucking shit,” I muttered. I grabbed my wallet and jacket and started walking out of the room. “Stay with Eren, I’ll be back.”

I was gone before I could bother getting a response. I had people to beat up. Erwin and Hanji were dead meat. Not even dead meat, they were Titan meat. And not just any Titan, probably the wall Titans because those two weren’t even worthy of being eaten by a normal Titan.

As I stormed into my car I wondered where to go.

Would they be at home or at the head quarters? Well they better hope at home because they were going down as soon as I saw them and if that was in front of their new employees then so be it.

See, you’d think that as I sped over twenty miles over the speed limit, I’d have a million thoughts running through my mind. I didn’t. My mind was fairly blank. I had one objective and that was murder.

My legs twitched in confusion. My muscles had remembered everything too, and were anxious to be using the 3DMG instead of sitting still in a car. The instincts from my past life served me well though; I was easily able to maneuver my way home while driving dangerously and never harm anyone or anything.

I decided to check the headquarters first because it was closer.

Sure enough, sitting in the parking lot was Hanji’s little eco-friendly car. Great. There were a few other cars too which meant I’d be putting on a show.

I didn’t even park my car in a parking spot. I parked it wherever it was when I drove up to the building and marched out.

As soon as I entered the building I spotted Mike. I approached him and pushed his back to a wall, “Did you know?”

He stared down at me in genuine confusion, “Know what?”

“About our ‘history’,” I sneered.

His blank expression told me all I needed to know. I left him and headed towards Erwin’s office.

There was only a few people in the building. Didn’t bother looking at them long enough to see who. Literally no fucks given.

As I was nearing Erwin’s office, Hanji popped up beside me and opened their mouth to presumably give a greeting but I gave them no such honor.  

I grabbed the back of their shirt then shoved them into Erwin’s office (successfully causing them to almost do a backwards summersault).For once Erwin actually showed a shocked expression.

They both silently waited for me to say something. I could feel eyes on my back and guessed that the others had followed to see what was wrong.

I crossed my arms and asked with a sickeningly sweet voice, “May I speak to you, Commander?”

Their expressions became grave and I watched their world fall apart through their eyes.

Erwin stood up with an aghast look on his face, and I’ll admit- my anger had worn off a slight bit. There was fear in their eyes, yes, just as I’d wanted, but there was also a deep sadness.

Hanji closed the door to the office as Erwin finally spoke, “Who was it?”

I narrowed my eyes and glanced at Hanji, thinking he had meant who was at the door, then turned back when I realised he was asking me.

“What the fuck do you mean.”

He shook his head as if clearing his thoughts and made a terribly sad smile, “I’m sorry, I’m not used to...who was with you when you remembered?”

“Why does that matter?”

Hanji stepped up beside me and cautiously put a hand on my shoulder, “We can only remember when we reestablish a relationship from before- so like Erwin and myself. Or Connie and Sasha. It sort of triggers the memories.”

I frowned and shrugged Hanji’s hand off without giving a reply.

“Did you and Eren finally seal the deal?”

I turned to them and raised an eyebrow, “Excuse me?”

They immediately forced a laugh and shrunk to Erwin’s side, “Nevermind!”

“It was Mikasa,” I answered finally.

They both looked a little disappointed in my reply.

After a moment of silence I spoke up, “I fail to see why that’s an issue at all. She’s the only one who’s been in exact sync with me at any point. It makes sense.”

Erwin chuckled and his smile turned into one that seemed somewhat nostalgic, “No, it’s not that it’s just...you and Eren seemed to be doing so well, we thought for sure…”

I sighed and looked away, “Yeah, well the kid’s always had other things on his mind.”

Another moment of silence. This time understandable though- I kind of made it awkward.

When I looked back up I found both of them staring at me fondly.

Hanji laughed and covered their mouth quickly, which brought attention to the fact they were crying.

Okay, I’ll admit again that my anger levels fell. In fact, pretty much dissolved altogether at that point.

My previous rage had been replaced. Replaced with a yearning to makeup for a lifetime of being left out.

Hanji let out another laugh/cry and crossed the room to hug me, “I’ve missed you Levi.”

~~

“Okay so there’s us three, Mikasa, Sasha and Connie, and that’s all we know for sure?”

We ended up sitting in Erwin’s office just clarifying everything.

“Yes, we’re a bit suspicious of a few others but we don’t have anything solid on them,” Erwin nodded.

“And we’re certainly curious about Eren’s friends, I for one think they must remember,” Hanji included.

I tapped my finger against the side of my chair as I thought, “Me too. Certainly that Annie, but back up- who else do you think might remember?”

“Petra, Oluo and Gunter.”

I grunted and said nothing.

Erwin sat back and clasped his hands together, “Aside from being glad we finally have you back, I’m glad we can finally get your help on our situation too. We’re too connected. We need to know why we’re all together, and if there’s a grim reasoning to it.”

Hanji nodded and waved their hands in the air as they spoke, “Originally we were afraid history would repeat itself. There was just so many mirrors to last time that we even considered closing this business just to keep everyone safe and separated, but after the hospital incident we realised it wasn’t so.”

They were right. At the old hospital all of my squad should have died if that were to happen. They didn’t.

But at the same time, Annie was once again in a deep sleep that we weren’t sure she’d emerge from…

What could have been the purpose of all of that?

And suddenly I remembered Eren lying asleep in the hospital.

“It’s a...our second chance,” I whispered. I felt sick again, I felt like my lungs were being crushed. It was similar to how I had felt when I found Eren passed out on the stairs, but without the fire threatening to kill us.

Erwin and Hanji perked up at my suggestion.

“What?”

“No, it was...it was something that Eren said in the hospital room...this is our second chance,” I spoke excitedly.

Erwin furrowed his eyebrows and sat back to think as Hanji got up and paced the room.

“It makes sense!” Hanji exclaimed, “It’s simple and it explains all that we need to know.”

“Yeah but...there’s some differences then that are troubling,” Erwin pointed out. “Like Mina in the Carolina’s house. Before Mina was in the 104th squad but this go around we didn’t have a chance to save her. None of us knew her at that point.”

“Well there may be more of us.There could be other members of that squad that knew her, which wouldn’t be outrageous seeing as we have a good chunk of that squad here with us! The other ones that died at Trost could be out there,” Hanji reasoned.

That reminded me of another thing.

I looked out the window quietly and tried to remember what I could about that particular hospital room.

“Isabel and Farlan remembered, too,” I murmured quietly.

Both of their faces fell and I turned to explain, even though they probably already knew.

“Ymir said they were thinking about me in that memory. They had remembered.”

It was as if I had just found out they died- and in a sense, it was just that. I didn’t know who they were, but suddenly I did and they had died.

Frankly I just wanted to grieve.

“We can still look into their lives if you want to Levi,” Erwin offered.

I nodded and said nothing.

After a few minutes Hanji cleared their throat, “Uh Levi? What’s this about Eren saying it’s our second chance?”

This seemed to catch Erwin’s attention, “Did he remember too?”

I shook my head, “No, we’ve been having glimpses of before in our dreams...we’ve been discussing it together for a while now.”

They looked at each other then back at me, “What?”

“Is there a problem with that. Because if we really want to go there, I am perfectly okay with discussing what I originally came for, I cannot BELIEVE you two knew this whole time and-”

Erwin raised a hand and closed his eyes, “Levi, please. Beat us up later, we need to know more about the fact you two have been slowly remembering for some time. As far as we know that’s never happened before, we all remember everything at once.”

I sighed and looked out the window again, “I think you two are looking into it too much. We’ve been given a second chance to live. We live in a setting we don’t have to constantly fight for our lives and conserve food and wonder what could have been- we’ve been given a second chance.”

They seemed to relax a bit and after a while of digesting that, Erwin smiled and shook his head, “It was once our duty to analyze and plan for everything Levi.”

I shrugged and stood up, “Not anymore.”

“In that case, since we have ‘a second chance’….Levi,” he opened his eyes and gave me a charming smile, “Submit to me as we passionately make love.”

I scoffed and rolled my eyes, “Nice try eyebrows.”

He laughed and yawned, “It was worth a shot.”

Hanji patted Erwin’s back and pouted their lips, “Unfortunately for you, his heart is sworn to another.”

“Speaking of him, I’m gonna go talk to him if you don’t mind,” I started towards the door, prepared to completely abandon my plans to murder them (for the time being) with the replaced need to inform Eren on what had happened.

“Is that really a good idea Levi?”

I paused and considered it for a moment. “Well regardless, I’m kind of obligated to since we’ve been talking about this for a while now.”

Erwin made a sort of sympathetic face and it made me start to get angry, “He’s not stable enough for such a shock right now. He doesn’t remember it all, and besides, how much does he remember? Does he even know about titans?”

“...Maybe? He had that dream once…” That dream in the office that both of them walked in on, because they thought he was remembering. When he saw his mother get eaten.

“He convinced himself that was a nightmare though.”

“Well…” I was starting to get mad again, and the worst part was that it was just an immature stubborn angry. They were providing substantial information as to why I shouldn’t tell Eren but I needed to.

“How am I supposed to act around him now if I can’t tell him?! This changes so much, and there’s so much about cases that this clears up too!”

“We’re not telling you, you can’t; we’re just saying you probably shouldn’t,” he defended.

I turned around to put my back to them and thought for a moment.

What the fuck was I going to do.

They were 100% percent right, the best thing to do was to not tell Eren; chances were, he’d remember with someone eventually but…

Just remembering how much it tore us apart, having remembered some things (and having remembered it, I knew how little we actually remembered) and not understanding anything and questioning EVERYTHING...and knowing how angry he could quite possibly be based on how angry I was…

I tilted my head up and stared at the ceiling, “What am I supposed to do?”

“At least wait until he’s out of the hospital.”

I sighed and pressed my head against the door, and just stood there.

A few seconds later they had migrated across the room and pulled me into a group hug.

“It’ll be okay Levi,” Hanji whispered into my shoulder, “Trust me, we know exactly how you feel.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> that ending was so much sadder than originally planned in my handy dandy spreadsheet  
> uhhh idk what else to say besides after the next chapter is posted you should go back to reread the whole thing before the finale. i just think itd be cool to do :P


	31. Curiosity that Killed the Cat

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> erens the cat.  
> curiosity will kill him.  
> (i kid)  
> all levis pov!

“Corporal, it’s 1:33,” Mikasa warned.

I stared ahead but made no move to take my foot off the brake, “I know.”

“I thought we agreed to leave at 1:33, it’ll take seventeen minutes to get there then we’ll have ten minutes to get Eren and leave so we can check out by two-”

“I know,” I snapped.

She sat back for a few seconds, checked her phone, then turned to me again, “Levi-”

“Say it- I fucking dare you.”

She said nothing. She glanced at her phone then sat back and murmured quietly, “We’re a minute late.”

I sighed and reluctantly put the car in reverse, “Sorry, I just needed a minute.”

We were both incredibly anxious about picking Eren up from the hospital. It’d been about two weeks since we remembered and that was the same amount of time it’d been since we’d seen Eren.

After I stormed out of his hospital room, Mikasa panicked and asked Jean to stay with Eren for a bit until Armin arrived to fill in for her absence.

We’d basically spent the last two weeks trying to figure out what we were going to do.

Neither of us knew how to handle Eren anymore.

We ultimately decided we would tell him about it after we got him home and settled in. And we’d tell him about it as smoothly as we could but we still weren’t sure how it would be seeing him after remembering.

Hanji and Erwin were supportive and told us that they’d be on stand-by if we needed help. They also emphasized how dangerous it could be.

I’d learned to accept the fact they didn’t tell me all that time. They did it with my safety and emotions in best interest. It was also easy to accept after getting to feel how they did, but two weeks without telling Eren wasn’t the same as the years they spent hiding it from me.

Sasha and Connie had nothing to say except that they wanted to talk to him as soon as possible. Apparently they had treated him rather coldly because they were avoiding him- for the same reason Mikasa and I had...they weren’t sure how to act around him.

We’d also discussed who we thought could help each other remember. Basically shipping everyone, platonically and romantically.

I wondered if Farlan and Isabel had been each other’s match. I’m sure they were.

I’d gotten back in sync with Mikasa in the meantime, which wasn’t hard at all. With Eren gone she fell into the spot of being my temporary assistant and helped me out without me having to say anything. She knew what to do, how to do and when to do it. We’d gotten a lot of comments about how weird it looked.

She’d also started calling me ‘corporal’ again, but it was only when she was sort of casually calling my name. If she was really trying to say something important she’d called me Levi, or if someone who didn’t remember was around, but besides that I was called corporal again.

When I parked my car in the hospital parking lot we both sat in the car for another minute.

“Are we gonna be late for this,” I whispered.

She shook her head, “I lied. It took us fifteen minutes to get here. I added two minutes specifically because I knew this would happen.”

On one hand I was appreciative of how thoughtful she was but on the other hand I was a little peeved she was barking at me earlier saying we’d be late.

“I miss him,” she declared.

I nodded and said nothing.

“He’ll think it’s weird we’re together,” she predicted.

I shrugged and finally pulled my keys out and placed them in my pocket, “It’ll be weird for him, but he’ll probably think it’s nice.”

“Armin said he’d stay at the headquarters a little later so we should have time to talk to Eren,” she noted, for the fifth time that day.

I couldn’t help but laugh.

“Why are we so scared? It’s Eren, he arguably the best person we know.”

“That’s precisely why I’m scared,” she turned to me, “I don’t want to lose the best person I know. Eren is everything to me, I don’t want to accidently push him away.”

 

~~

When we entered his room he was sitting up on the edge of his bed facing the window with his back slightly to us. He was gently rubbing his left wrist and staring outside with a dazed expression.

It was incredibly sunny outside so the sunlight shone on his face and he almost seemed to glitter. His eyes though, did, without a doubt, glitter.

I was probably standing there almost drooling for about a year or so.

“Oi.”

It took him a second to register that it was my voice, then turned around with a bright smile, “Hey!”

I blinked. Then turned around and walked out of the room.

I wasn’t doing it I couldn’t do it. He’d never smiled so carefree like that before and I worried if he remembered or knew about our past he never would again.

But I couldn’t stay with him and pretend I hadn’t remembered.

A few seconds later Mikasa had a tight grip on my arm and was hissing at me, “Corporal!! What are you doing?!”

I’d never felt so unsure in such a long time. Before I wasn’t given the chance to have time to be unsure, I had to do what I had to do and live with it. I didn’t have to do that anymore, I had time and opportunity to think about everything and let me tell you- I didn’t want it because there I was freaking out in a hospital because I didn’t know what to do about a beautiful smiling boy that knew nothing about his past.

“Guys! Don’t be in such a hurry to leave, there’s some paperwork they need Mikasa to sign,” Eren called as he jogged up behind us.

Mikasa let go of my arm and went to Eren, “Hey you shouldn’t be running yet, slow down.”

He waved her off with a grin, “Oh please, I”m fine. In fact I’d love to go for a run right now. I’ve been stuck in that room forever.”

She nodded, “Alright, if you say so. Where is this paperwork I need to look at?”

He pointed down the hall to the right, “At the desk down there. Some of the paper needed signatures from family and,” he gestured to her jazz hands as if to say ‘ta-dah!’. “You’re the one and only. It’s just a few things though.”

“Okay. You two go ahead to the car, I”ll be down shortly.”

She was doing so well, so well, and then she left me alone with him. What a horrible person.

He turned to me with a grin and started down the hall, “Long time no see. Where have you two been? You totally abandoned me for my whole ‘stay’.”

I shrugged and avoided eye contact, “Been busy with the case.”

“Ahh, how’s that been going? Did you find out who the dude that jumped was?”

Shit. Of course I hadn’t been working on the case, I had completely forgotten about that thing. I think everyone else was working on it??

“Erwin...Erwin will go over it with you when you get back to work,” I possibly lied as I held the front door open for him.

He looked at me with a frown for a moment before exiting the building and asking where the car was.

“Oh, or am I going with Mikasa?”

I nodded my head to the right and lead him to my car, “We came together.”

“Really?!”

“Yes.”

“Huh. Cool.”

After Mikasa returned we headed towards their apartment. Which I’d actually never seen. I decided to focus on being a polite guest and trying to be excited to see where Eren lived instead of being scared of saying something in front of him.

When we reached his apartment he immediately flopped onto his couch. He buried himself in some pillows then sighed from under them, “Oh God how I’ve missed you.”

I smirked and watched, “It’s been two weeks.”

His head popped out from the pillows, “Yeah! Two weeks of doing nothing but lay in a bed and argue with Jean!”

I laughed and moved to sit by him. As soon as I sat though, he lurched from his pillow pile and pulled me into a tight hug.

“Ahh I’ve missed human contact too,” he murmured as he rested his chin on my head.

I gave him a moment to enjoy ‘human contact’ before starting to fidget a bit.

“Alright that’s enough.”

He didn’t let me go. Instead he snickered, “I never realised how small you actually are.”

I shoved him off immediately. He laughed and fell into his pillows.

Mikasa smiled and shook her head at him.

We said nothing for a while. Mikasa suddenly gave me a fearful look, as if to ask if we were going to do it. I had no answer.

Eren sprawled out across the couch and used my lap as his pillow, despite the fact he had plenty of pillows to choose from.

“Have you guys heard about Annie?”

I tilted my head and waited for him to go on. Maybe we didn’t even need to bring it up, maybe Eren had just done that.

“The doctors said she’s showing a lot of brain activity. Connie said he can’t see anything about her future anymore- including the part where they said she’d be brain dead that he’d seen before, so I’m hoping that means she’ll wake up soon!”

I lowered one of my hands and gently stroked his hair, “Maybe.”

He glanced up at me, then at Mikasa and back to me, “She’s a medium too, I don’t know if I mentioned that.”

I nodded, “I think you did. And those two friends of hers, they’re mediums too aren’t they?”

“Ah yeah...how’d you know?” he wondered curiously.

I looked up at Mikasa to let her know I was going for it.

“It makes sense. You five are all the same again,” I pointed out.

He waited and after I didn’t continue, he poked my stomach, “And what does that mean?”

I paused for a moment, thinking about what to say, before going on.

“I’ve remembered some more, Eren. In fact quite a bit more, I remembered everything.”

He sat up and stared at me with wide-eyes, “What? Really?”

As he sat up he noticed Mikasa was still in the room and looked back and forth between us, silently questioning as to why I was talking about it with her in our presence.

“She remembers too.”

“Is that..why...neither of you came to visit me after that day?” he correctly guessed.

“Yeah, pretty much. We just weren’t sure what to do,” I answered honestly.

“Well I hope you decided to tell me about it because if you go this far and then don’t expand on what it is you remembered, I might literally implode.”

“While that is a concerning threat,” I chuckled, “We wanted to ask you first if you really want to know. I know it’s probably a yes, but consider how troubled you were with how little you already remember and imagine how much worse it’ll be if you remember all of it.”

Mikasa looked a little relieved. It came out much more smoothly than we both probably thought it would in our previous anxious states.

He blinked and stared at me with a blank expression, “Wouldn’t it be terrible for you to have to walk around without telling me about it though? Don’t you want to tell me?”

I blinked back, a little startled by his reply. I expected either a yes or a no, not a question about myself.

He frowned and looked away, “I thought it was out of the question that you’d tell me…”

Oh great, I’d offended him. By trying to protect him from our past I had offended him by making him think our previous private discussions meant nothing.

“Eren it’s deep shit. It’s highly probable that after you know, you won’t want to know.”

“What if I remember on my own?”

“Eren,” Mikasa interrupted, “Stop being so problematic, we’re just trying to do what’s best for you.”

“How would you know what’s best for me?”

“We don’t! Are you not listening to him? We spent two weeks avoiding you because we don’t know what to do,” she argued.

Dang. I’d never seen them seriously fight.

“You would want to know if you were me,” he pointed out.

“Yes, but I’d hope I’d realise the danger of it.”

He said nothing and simply brooded for a moment.

“Curiosity killed the cat,” Mikasa reasoned.

“But satisfaction brought it back,” Eren shot in return.

“Okay, calm down,” I warned, “arguing is definitely not the purpose of this ‘meeting’, you two aren’t doing any good to each other.”

“Okay, what if you guys just tell me some big things now, and simply don’t walk around talking about things other times?” Eren reasoned.

“What do you mean?”

“I meeeean, like tell me how I met you two, how we died, etc etc. And then after this if something reminds you of our past, you can say it; you don’t have to hold it in because I don’t remember,” he explained.

I looked up at Mikasa and we exchanged a shrug, “That sounds reasonable, I guess…”

His eyes lit up and he looked up at Mikasa too, “How did we meet? Oh wait!” He turned back to me, “Wait no, tell me why you beat me up that one time.”

Mikasa and I both simultaneously choked on the air. I was willing to bet she had sort of forgotten about that because she suddenly looked very angry at me.

“Uh, yeah, okay...well...you were in court,” I started.

He watched me eagerly waiting for me to go on. Why? he asked silently.

“Because…”I glanced at Mikasa looking for support. It was about to come out- the big doozy. She gave me a nod then broke eye contact.

“Because you were, by social standards, a monster.”

He, surprisingly, barked out a laugh, “Hah, haven’t changed I see.”

We stared at him with mortified expressions.

His glee quickly faded, “What.”

“No Eren, you were...I hate to say it because I personally never thought you one, but you were a monster.”

“Was I Frankenstein?” he asked gravely.

“You little shit, you aren’t even taking this seriously?”

“And you are?”

“You had just graduated from military training,” Mikasa interrupted calmly. “You were planning on joining the bravest branch of the military but the day before you would have done that, the wall was broken down by Bertolt and became flooded by Titans. Giant creatures that at first, were thought to just exist only to eat humans.”

I stared at Mikasa in awe and let her continue. I couldn’t read Eren’s expression but he was listening intently.

“Your squad was sent into the city. Armin was in your squad too. I was held back to help higher up soldiers because I was one of the most skilled. Your entire squad, except Armin was wiped out. Including you. The only reason Armin lived because you saved him and died in the process. As Armin later told me he assumed you were dead when he was about to be eaten. You had gone rolling along the top of buildings’ roofs due to a titan jumping out of nowhere and taking off one of your legs. If you weren’t already dead when he assumed you were, you would have died from brain damage and bleeding out.

You jumped out of nowhere and save him. You were eaten instead- and your arm was bitten off because you were reaching for Armin. Shit happened while you were supposedly dead, but in the mean time you were turning into a Titan yourself. None of us knew it, but you were a Titan shifter due to eating our father who was also a Titan shifter- meaning you inherited the ability to turn into a TItan. Once you were back in human form you were taken in because you were seen as a monster. Soon you were put in trial to see if you were to be killed or not.

Levi saved you by beating the shit out of you and proving you were tamable.”

I wanted to clap but there was an awkward silence once she finished.

After I shifted in my seat, “Well I’m glad you finally admit that I did in fact save him by doing that.”

“Eren?” Mikasa crossed the room and knelt down in front of him. She stared up at him with worry but he only turned his head away from both of us.

He was angry. It was a sort of move that said ‘I don’t even want to look at you’.

Maybe if I whacked him on the head hard enough he’d pass out and I could convince him that this never happened.

“I don’t understand.”

Mikasa put a hand on his knee, “Well which part? There’s a whole bunch to it, I can explain-”

He stood up and looked down at us, “I understand your little story. What I don’t understand is why you told it.”

He paused and looked me straight in the eye. He was about to cry; I was lost. Why was he going to angry cry.

“Neither of you are people who would use others for their own good or tell such a, a blasphemy so why? Why is this a thing that just happened I don’t understand?”

We said nothing. He felt betrayed, the kid thought we were lying.

I was about to open my mouth to console him but he kept going.

“But you’re not lying, I can tell you’re not lying so why…”

Ah.

A feeling of regret hit me deep in my core. I could tell he was getting panicked and it looked like we had lost basically all his trust.

It was a lot to take in though, and Mikasa did lay it all out for him so it made sense that he was so confused and trying to reject what we had told him.

Suddenly the front door open and Armin came in. He glanced at each of us and took a step back, “Oh uh...should I-”

Eren marched across the room to Armin, “Let me borrow your keys really quick, I need to go get something.”

Not understanding what was happening, Armin hurriedly pulled out his keys and handed them to Eren. Eren left without a single glance back at us.

The blonde stood there awkwardly for a moment before excusing himself to his room.

After maybe ten minutes of silence, Mikasa stood up quickly and turned to me.

“We fucked up, what do we do?!”

I thought for a moment.

Eren was a hot-head. He reacted quickly to everything without thinking. He was rash and careless when upset. He quite possibly needed time to calm down, but he was also too dangerous to be left alone.

“Give him...a head start. And then we’ll go look for him.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ahh so how do we feel about the dynamic ackerman duo yeah yeah  
> one chapter left  
> o n e  
> o n e c h a p t e r  
> i have to write a hella good finale lordy send help
> 
> of all the chapters, this one and chapter 29 make me feel the most iffy i feel like they suck the most.


	32. Second Chance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heeeeeeeeeeere is the finale!  
> So sorry for the wait guys, I've been busy and trying to perfect this last chapter so  
> here it is.   
> more notes at the end pls read
> 
> erens pov then levis

I needed to get my thoughts together.

I hoped Armin wasn’t too confused by my storming out but I needed a second to gather my thoughts. I didn’t even really need his keys; it’s not like I was going anywhere.

I just needed to be by myself.

Okay so all I really gathered from their little lay down of our true past was giant monsters.

Like.

Come on. Having past lives was a stretch on its own, but now then there was titans? And then I was a titan myself??

What even.

And the worst part was, I knew they weren’t lying- they were telling the fucking truth.

I knew people, that was a talent I knew I could trust; and they weren’t lying.

So why…?

TITANS. Just...are you kidding me?

I groaned and rested my head on the steering wheel, considering to drive somewhere after all.

Maybe I just needed time. Time to digest what they had said. It was possible that they went crazy together and actually believed what they told me. Or someone hypnotized them. Like Hanji maybe. Or they were on drugs?

I reached my hand into my pocket  to retrieve my phone, only to find it wasn’t there. I realised I had left in in my hospital room when I ran out after Levi and Mikasa. Well. I could drive to the hospital and pick it up. That’d give me something to do while I blew off some steam.

As well as I kind of needed my phone; that was a vital piece to doing anything now.

And so I began my journey without even any music. I just wanted to let my mind be blank for a while.

So I tried.

It surprisingly wasn’t hard. I was just so beyond done that it was pretty easy to block everything from my mind.

Ten minutes later and after almost running three red lights, I was at the hospital.

I realised I didn’t actually know where to go so I figured I’d ask whoever was at the front desk then, if they wouldn’t help then I’d just kind of...sneak by.

The hospital seemed pretty calm actually. A few nurses walked by but none in a particular hurry and that’s a good thing.

At the front desk was someone I actually knew.

“Oh! You’re in SPT, aren’t you?” Mrs. Yega greeted, “Eren?”

I smiled and nodded, “Ah, yes. It’s nice to see you again Mrs. Yega.”

She grinned and continued flipping through papers, “What brings you here today?”

“I actually just checked out today but I left my phone…” I trailed off. Hopefully she’d be okay with it since she’d met me before.

“Oh, okay! I’ll take you right now, do you remember what room number it was?”

She let a nurse next to her know she was leaving for a minute, then came out from behind the desk.

“How have you been?” she asked. After asking she paused and tilted her head, as if realising she said the wrong thing, “On second thought, you said you were here? What happened?”

I laughed awkwardly and looked away, “Hahhhhhh it’s kind of a long story…”

“Ah. How long were you here? Was it just a small trip to the E.R.?”

“Small in comparison to a year?”

She gave me a funny look.

I sighed and laughed again, “I was here for two weeks.”

Her eyes widened, “Two weeks?”

“There was a fire in a...building and I got locked in an area that was full of smoke.”

“Might you have been at the old mental hospital on the edge of town?”

It suddenly struck me that since the whole building had burned down, it was highly likely it had been on the news or police had been involved. Was SPT in deep shit??

She must have noticed the sudden concern on my face.

“I had family members that once were patients of that hospital so I check it every once in a while. I was there a week ago and it had burned down but I hadn’t seen anything about it anywhere; it’s a very old forgotten place.”

I sighed in relief as we turned to enter my previous room.

“Though, I do have to ask- how did the fire start? I sure hope you guys didn’t cause it on purpose…”

“No! Oh, no! It was uh...well...ghosts?”

She spotted my phone and went to grab it with a quizzical look on her face. When she handed it to me, her expression faded and she shrugged instead, “I don’t understand half of what you guys do but I guess I’m just realising that it’s actually dangerous. Was anybody else in the group hurt?”

“Ah yes, just two others- but one already left. My friend Annie is still here, she uh. She kind of hasn’t woken up since,” I explained.

“Miss Leonhardt?”

“Yes!”

“My husband is her doctor. He told me she might wake up soon.”

I stuffed my phone into my pocket and followed her out of the room, “Really?!”

She nodded, “Yes. At first he didn’t think so. but recently she’s been showing some good signs. Should we go visit her? My husband might actually be with her right now, I can introduce you.”

“That’d be really cool!”

I really liked Mrs. Yega. Her presence really irked me still but I could tell she was a good person and holy shit oh my God.

I slowed down as we neared Annie’s room and as yet another realisation hit me.

She was my mother in that weird dream where that monster ate her. Mikasa’s description of Titans had fit that of the creature that ate Mrs. Yega, and it would explain why she irked me so…

I was looking at my mother.

Levi was right. We were related. Our names did sound suspiciously familiar.

So then that meant…

****  
  


Once we entered the room I immediately noticed a man standing beside Annie’s bed writing something down.

And of course, as one would probably predict,

I recognized him.

He looked up as we approached, and guessing by his expression, he recognized me too.

But he was quick to disguise it.

“Oh, Carla…?”

Mrs. Yega smiled and introduced me.

“This is Eren, he’s a friend of Ms. Leonhardt’s.”

“Ah of course,” he attached his pen to his clipboard and nodded at me, “You must be very worried. If you have any questions feel free to ask.”

Mrs. Yega put a hand on my arm to get my attention, smiled, then excused herself; leaving me alone with my...ex-father??

We stood in silence for a long time and stared at each other.

I wasn’t sure if it was an awkward silence, or a horrified silence or whatever- it was just there.  
Eventually he cleared his throat and gestured to Annie, “Well. Your friend is doing rather well actually.”

“Uhm...Mr...Yega?-”

“I think it’s highly possible she’ll wake up soon-”

“Mr. Yega-”

“And as I understand she has two other friends who will be taking care of her once she’s released-”

“Dad, please.”

He stopped talking at once and kept his gaze anywhere except on me.

“I don’t know what to say,” he admitted.

“Me either.”

We stood in silence yet again.

He finally looked up at me, “So...is Mikasa….?”

I gave him a small smile, “She’s fine. She remembers.”

“Ah…”

More silence. Now it was flat out awkward.

“Does Mom remember?”

He shook his head, “Not as far as I know...how long have you…?”

He seemed to be quite speechless by this encounter.

“I...well...not sure. I just remembered everything as soon as I saw you, but I’ve been catching glimpses in dreams so...I kind of cheated.”

He nodded, “Ah…”

Yet another...awkward silence.

What the hell was someone supposed to say in that situation??

I had thought of a bunch of questions in these silences. I wanted to know...well everything I had questioned in my previous life. He had died before he could give me answers but I still wanted some of those answers so…

Ok and at the same time. Was I supposed to just dive into those questions?? It seemed a little mean?

And what about HIS questions. I’m sure he had a bunch of questions for me too…

He coughed and headed towards the door, “I apologize, but I really need to go…”

For a second, I started panicking.

I mean I knew he wasn’t leaving. He wasn’t to just walk out of existence, but I still

I just still had the primal fear that he was leaving me.

I wanted to stop him but fear has a funny thing of freezing you so you can’t actually act on your fear sometimes.

Just as he was about to pass me, he put a hand on my shoulder and looked into my eyes, “I apologize for everything Eren.”

He meant every word.

I wanted…

I don’t know what I wanted. I wanted to cry kind of. A lot of.

I spent a long time before hating him because I thought he left us when in reality I ate him, so I kind of wanted to cry out of guilt. But I also wanted to cry because things were finally better.

We were in a world a great deal better than where we came from, we were safe.

I was very grateful for everything.

He left me standing there in my cloud of conflict, though I don’t blame him at all. He probably had his own cloud of conflict to find his way out of.

I turned to look at Annie, sleeping so peacefully. She had remembered. She knew the whole time.

That’s how she knew my name, and it’s why she looked offended when I told her I kicked a wall down. She clearly found it rude that I had tried to steal Bertolt’s job. Or maybe she found it funny that I tried to steal his job and failed so hard that I injured myself.

I laughed bitterly at my own joke.

Then  I couldn’t stop laughing.

“Holy SHIT Annie,” I cried.

She didn’t reply of course. She was asleep. Just like before.

“I cannot fucking believe it Annie oh my God how did YOU make it here, you never technically died!!”

I was already in pain. I was laughing far too hard, for no reason whatsoever.

I had the feeling it was actually helping cope with my new memories so I let myself laugh hysterically.

Suddenly there was quiet laughter.

“I don’t even know Eren,” Annie replied softly.

I stared at her in shock for a moment (also kind of horrified that my laughing was loud enough to wake someone from their coma) then started laughing again. The irony of her waking up at that moment was the cherry on top of the pie.

“You were just being lazy in that crystal the whole time,” I gasped through laughs.

Her laughing slowly grew louder as she began to fully wake up.

“Admit it- you were secretly jealous I got to escape without actually dying.”

~~

“Jesus, where the hell could he be?”

I’d been driving around with Mikasa for about two hours trying to find Eren. He wasn’t at headquarters, he wasn’t walking around their apartment complex, he wasn’t at the store looking for candy; he wasn’t anywhere.

“Should we go check out that hospital that burned down? Maybe he went back there since it seemed he was remembering stuff there,” I suggested.

There was a buzzing sound then suddenly Mikasa’s hand shot out to grab my arm, “It’s Eren.”

“What?”

“Eren’s calling.”

I quickly looked for a random place to park the car, “Answer! Put it on speaker.”

She nodded and tapped her phone then answered.

“Eren?”

“Mikasa.” His voice sounded grim.

“Eren, are you okay? Where are you?”

“...”

She gave me a hesitant look so I joined in.

“Eren, tell us where you are, we’ll come pick you up.”

“...”

“Eren, come on,” Mikasa pleaded, “Forget about what we told you, just forget it.”

Then came a giggle.

Not from Mikasa. Not from myself. It was from Eren.

Mikasa made a bewildered face at the phone which admittedly kind of made me want to laugh.

“Mikasa, I just met our father y’know?”

He sounded kind of drunk to be honest.

“And he’s still a doctor! That man must not have a hobby.”

Mikasa looked horrified.

“Eren are you drunk?!” she exclaimed.

He bursted out laughing, “No, but that sounds like a good idea. I feel like I should be.”

I covered the phone’s mic and whispered, “He’s remembered. Be careful what you say, we don’t know where he is and we don’t want to provoke him.”

Suddenly there was a loud whooping coming from the phone.

“AYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYE! If I’m a titan shifter, and you’re a titan shifter, then who’s flying the plane?!?!”

He was talking to someone else, but at least we had an idea of who he was with. Unfortunately, the only other titan shifter’s number we had was Ymir’s, but it was better than nothing.

I sent her a quick text asking if Eren was with her and continued to listen to Eren’s babbling on the other end. We couldn’t make out whoever it was he was talking to. He was laughing his ass off though.

Ymir quickly replied and I shook my head at Mikasa to let her know.

“Eren, where are you?” she repeated into the phone.

“You wanna know where I am?” he whispered.

We both frowned. Mikasa hesitantly answered ‘yes’.

Then there was a loud bang on my window. On the other side of the car door was a bright-eyed idiot with a lopsided grin plastered onto his face.

It took everything not to break that glass and punch him in the face in return for the heart attack he gave me. Luckily, I cared about him too much.

I was about to open the door, and Mikasa was about to flee the car when he motioned for us to stop and for me to roll down my window.

I raised an eyebrow but did as he ordered.

He then proceeded to climb through the window and into my lap which was altogether a silent ten minute maneuver. Aside from his quiet grunts and he pulled his weight into the car.

When he was finally seated with his crotch comfortably rested on mine (gee thanks a lot Eren), he looked back and forth between us eagerly.

Mikasa seemed more confused than worried and my worry had shifted into annoyance.

“What is it punk?” I finally asked.

He let out a gleeful little giggle then pulled my head against his chest in a hug. A few seconds later I felt him pull Mikasa into the hug too. Which we both promptly pulled ourselves away from.

He laughed at our confused faces then turned around on my lap and began adjusting the seat.

“What the hell are you doing??”

“I’m gonna drive,” he announced.

“While sitting on my lap?” I deadpanned.

“To where?” Mikasa questioned suspiciously.

“The beach,” he quipped.

I tried to wrap my head around what could possibly be happening.

He stormed out of his apartment. Then seemingly ran into Mr. Yega/Jaeger, which gave him his memories back.

When he left his apartment he was mad and confused, which was completely understandable, but now since he had remembered, he was very happy?

“May I ask, why you’re so happy?” I wondered.

I felt dread when I remembered. Horrible dread. I imagine the others felt similarly. Guilt and dread. Even Mikasa appeared to be confused by his laughter.

Eren seemed to feel the opposite.

“Why wouldn’t I be?” he answered without looking at either of us.

I glanced at Mikasa questioningly, “I can think of quite a few reasons.”

“Eren, did you hit your head on something?” Mikasa blurted out worriedly.

He laughed and shook his head, “You two are looking at this whole thing the wrong way. Don’t you remember what Mina said?”

I almost laughed at Mikasa’s confused expression when I realised she had no clue what he was talking about; I told him to keep that a secret so she didn’t know.

“It’s a second chance guys. It’s remarkable that we’re all alive and together, don’t you think that’s something to be excited about?!”

I almost had whiplash from Eren’s change in demeanor.

I mean...he made a very good point, but it was sort of unlike him. But at the same time...very like him? I don’t know I was just very confused.

I’ll admit, for once it seemed like Eren had everything figured out and I was the one left in the dust.

He perked up, “Oh, speaking of second chances-”

He stopped the car at a red light then turned awkwardly in my lap to face me, “I”m not wasting this one.”

And then he kissed me.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> laUGHS  
> DONT HATE ME FOR THAT ENDING  
> anyhoodle we're finally done! Thank you so much for reading this piece and for all the feedback and likes it means the world to me, honestly.  
> Thank you so so much.  
> Now, I will say I had a few ideas for like an epilogue chapter but i make no promises and it wont be for a while but if i do there miiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight be some sexy time for ereri as well as i want to shed some light on a few other characters stories (coughcoughisabelandfarlancoughcough) so check for that every once in a while.  
> Annnd don't forget to follow me on tumblr (my url is ooBerry just like on here) if you'd like to request a fanfic because that'd be cool  
> and my instagram is @nichtbinaereschicksal if you want to see what im up to as well as my face :P
> 
> I'm so sad this is over now wow.   
> Well, that's a closing on WUtJbS! Thank you again! ! I'll miss you guys


End file.
